A Maelstrom Among Specters
by Helghy
Summary: Naruto's Life has never been an easy one, however Naruto has proven that he is a true shinobi one who Endures against all odds. Now though, facing the reality that their people are only a small blip in the Unknown regions of the galaxy Naruto will have to find the strength to again defy expectations and Endure his newest challenge which include the vile machinations of the Empire.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright...so I may have a bad habit of jumping around on projects whenever something catches my fancy...In all fairness I actually wrote the majority of this first chapter a long time ago (heh get it?) Anyway yeah, back before I ever began posting anything on , however having read Twilight of the Galaxy Episode I - Rebels by 312. (Which is a great start of a story and I would love to read more like it.) I couldn't help myself from going back and redoing this story to get it actually breathing. Doesn't help I have been on a starwars kick for a long while and wrapped up in it. Even going back and actually watching Rebels which I actually find myself enjoying to a decent degree. Not as much as clone wars mind you, but definitely not a bad series. **

**Anyway on with the actual story, a few story related notes at the end for those that care about it. Enjoy please.**

**Jedha**

**07 BBY**

Ahsoka was confused, she kept moving from place to place, kept reaching out with the force. She kept trying to feel the reason she was drawn to this place. Her first ideas were to slip into the various former Jedi locations to try and see if perhaps they were what drew her. The answer had been a resounding no. The small voice in the back of her head whispering to her was getting louder, but not any clearer in those places. Showing that even now the old temples and shrines were strongly connected to the force.

Five weeks. That's how long she had spent scouring this dusty old rock in search of whatever it was that practically pulled at her there, like a magnet. It was in those five weeks she noticed the staggering amount of Imperial forces being deployed here for some reason. She could only assume they too were searching for the same thing. It wasn't until then that she knew what exactly.

Apparently four weeks prior, a full week after she had arrived, some prisoner transport had crashed into the deserts while making its way to land in the Holy City. She was certain now that a prisoner on that ship was her mysterious pull in the force. That sadly didn't help much. It was a lead though.

With that lead she was able to narrow down her snooping after breaking into an Imperial Checkpoint. It didn't take long before she found precisely what she was looking for. Some poor kid it looked like, from some backwater just beyond the edge of the Unknown Regions supposed to be enroute to Mustafar to be broken by Vader himself. She released an unexpected shiver at that thought.

The Empire wanted this kid bad, and they wanted him as nothing more than a tool for Vader to wield alongside his legion or his lightsaber. Another force powered dog like their inquisitors. Too bad for them she wasn't about to let this one get taken by the Imps.

All told, it took another two weeks to find the boy even after knowing what he looked like. His features were striking as well so it should have been easy to track him down. Either way when she had found him he was barely conscious and moments from being snagged by Stormtroopers, after the people who he believed to be hiding him had drugged him and planned to turn him in.

She had been a bit surprised by how quickly his body fought off the drugs used on him. The former jedi had initially been worried he might even overdose from the massive amount they had injected him with, yet instead he had quickly fought off it's effects and already only a few hours after she picked him up he was waking all on his own.

The blond spent only a brief moment scanning the room before locking onto her briefly. It only lasted a moment but Ahsoka recognized the look in the boy's eyes. In that moment he had analyzed everything he could about her before forming a basic plan of action. Thankfully for both of them he simply raised his hands in a surrender motion and smiled faintly at her. Smiling reassuringly at the kid she offered him some water which he sucked down eagerly. Who knows when the last time he had fresh water to drink after all. Despite going at his drink like a dehydrated animal he kept Ahsoka in his line of sight, obviously not trusting her.

While Ahsoka continued to watch him and tried to figure him out Naruto watched her right back. However, his mind drifted to thinking about how he had gotten here.

In the time since coming to know of the greater galaxy Naruto had been hit by shock after shock. The first was that aliens existed. Kaguya's attempt to quite literally devour his people's life energy had sort of given him a bad impression of people from other planets though, even if her people had originally structured his own world's society, in the end they were nothing but cattle to the Ootsutsuki and that left a bad taste in his mouth to people from other parts of the galaxy.

Then only shortly after the last of the Otsutsuki were destroyed and his people were beginning to reach to the stars the 'oh so friendly' Empire arrived and began offering things like an over zealous pawn shop owner. Naruto wasn't stupid, he knew how much their technology and aid could help his people, especially after two devastating wars had ravaged the world of Ninsu. Still though he had voiced caution and spoke against the moves to make them a true part of the Galactic Empire.

People had even listened. Sure some of his closest friends disagreed for their own reasons, but the people as a whole had followed him in his beliefs. Like usual though, just when things were looking up, everything came crashing down. He had no idea the true extent of the Imperial Inquisitor's power. Had he expected it he would have tapped into the nature chakra of Ninsu, which he learned was apparently an aspect of the force, but he never had the chance. Instead his chakra and connection to whatever this force was was locked away and he had been beaten brutally. One of the worst beatings in his life honestly, which was saying something as he had been impaled multiple times in his life, twice in one afternoon even. He often liked to use that specific event as a joke about starting puberty being a rough experience for everyone.

Then came the darkness. Hours upon hours, maybe even days of darkness. Hardly any sound, nothing to feel but cold hard metal, and only the smell of his own sweat and blood. As if he was plunged into a void. When they had finally pulled him out of it the light was blinding. If only it had actually blinded him. There before him were at least four shinobi aiding the imperials as they loaded him and a select few others aboard a transport ship. Thankfully it wasn't anyone he personally knew, he wasn't sure he could take that slap in the face. He had no real idea what was going on. With Kurama having been lost in the wars with the Ootsutsuki, and his own chakra somehow suppressed his advanced healing ability was slowed terribly. He almost felt like a normal person. A normal person with a severe concussion of course. By the time he had fully come to his senses the ship was setting down for fuel on a different world than his own. That's when it all finally struck him.

He had been betrayed. He didn't know specifically by who, but there were shinobi who had sold him out to the empire. His own people had simply thrown him away. That's when it came to him. The anger and rage buried over a lifetime of mistreatment and being used as a pawn in other people's games. Rage at being betrayed and used by those he called comrades or even family when he had finally earned the respect of his home.

He thought he had come to accept his anger and buried hatred and let it go at the Waterfall of Truth back on Ninsu, but now he realized that while he had accepted it, he would probably never let that resentment truly go.

How many times had they done this to him. How many times had he been betrayed and used, and made into just a tool. He had fought against that, his entire life. Not just for himself but all his people who were treated the same way, and in the end, when he had finally come to be dubbed the Second Sage, come to be regarded as a hero both in the war and simply for his pacifist ideals someone turned on him again!

The anger and rage had been so palpable that he had blacked out again only to wake up in the desert. For a while he had thought perhaps he had suffered some kind of heat induced hallucination and was actually back home on Ninsu somewhere in Kaze. That didn't last long though as he felt himself naturally reach out to try and find life with his senses. However it wasn't like he used to do it. It wasn't with the chakra he had stored in his body. That he found was still largely suppressed only a trickle of his original reserves escaping. No, he was using something else, it felt almost like a deeper form of Nature Chakra. That was his first true connection with the force. Then and there. It was also when he realized he was now a fugitive on a foreign world being hunted by the empire. At least he could commune with the force. He had to think of silver linings, had to keep his own hope alive somehow.

The next weeks passed like a whirlwind. He barely remembered anything. He encountered new languages, new races, new cultures. He found himself in some city known as Ni Jedha, or simply the Holy City. It definitely had its own appeal, but he would take Konoha over anyplace this rock produced anyday. Nothing beat the sea of green forests that made up his homeland.

The last few days came back to him finally. Hiding out with a young couple who seemed alright by his reckoning. Again he was fooled by trusting the wrong people. It seemed there was not a single trustworthy person in the galaxy by this point. Not even those he had fought and bled with could be trusted so why would these random bottom feeders be any different. Still they had caught him off guard. Maybe it was the shock of his recent experiences, maybe they were simply better prepared for this than he was. Still he managed a swing at the man through reflexes alone when he injected Naruto with whatever it was. Naruto barely touched him, but his people were literally bred for warfare and the man's jaw was shattered by the backhand. The woman's screaming at him believing him to be a Jedi was the last thing he remembered before blacking out.

The biggest shock at the moment was simply that he was not back in another black void laying in a pool of his own blood. He had to count his blessings he supposed. Whoever this woman was, perhaps she was actually trustworthy. He squashed that line of thought ruthlessly. No he would be wary of her. Kind and friendly but still wary. He trusted no-one now. With Kurama gone, he was well and truly alone in the galaxy and that meant he had to watch his own back even among those that seemed friendly.

All these thoughts raced through Naruto's mind as he emptied the bottle of it's contents before looking back at the woman before him. He believed she was what was called a Togruta. His shadow clones had largely helped him when the Empire first made contact with their people. He could learn basic and other languages, as well as Galactic history, politics, formalities, and the like in hours where it would take others days or weeks. Togruta were one of the many, many races of people spread across the stars according to his memory. Sadly he didn't know much in the way of specifics about them, or the woman in front of him.

What he did know was that he definitely recognized those items on her belt. Those weapons used by the Inquisitor who had led the group that ambushed him in his own home. It was also used by another group, a group that he knew to be an enemy of the Empire, and therefore a possible ally.

"Jedi?" Naruto asked quietly, his eyes scanning over her waiting for any move to attack or any other movement that required him to react. Instead all he got was a slight widening of her eyes before a faint smile crossed her face. One that he had seen on only two other people, neither of which meant anything good for him. Nothing truly bad either but he couldn't help but swallow slightly at the look she was giving him suddenly. She suddenly reminded him of Tsunade and Sakura with that smile.

* * *

**One Month Later**

"You know they really did not do a good job searching you when they captured you did they?" Ahsoka laughed out as she watched Naruto sort the literal arsenal of weapons he had previously sealed away on his body.

Glancing back at her Naruto smirked before going back to organizing his things. "Yeah well neither did you." He joked, getting a half hearted scoff from the woman as she looked down at the items before them.

The kid had an entire spare set of gear as well as scrolls, letters, pictures, clothes, and a pair of swords that he seemed particularly fond of. His gear would be odd for most cultures but from what he had told her of his, not that he had told her much sadly, his people were warriors. Dozens of various menacing looking knives, wire that was somehow too thin to really see when unraveled, but sturdy enough to bind a full grown man, and sharp enough to lose a finger if mishandled, odds and ends like blank paper and writing supplies that seemed archaic but gave off an odd feeling as if they were imbued with energy.

"A shinobi tool kit." Naruto said smirking back at her when he caught her eyes scanning his stuff. "Never leave home without it."

"You know how to use all this junk to fight?" She asked with a bit of humor. Naruto, despite being awfully wary of others was easy to get along with. He practically glowed with a kind aura despite his rather bloody line of work.

"Yes I know how to use this 'junk' to fight!" He bit out, a little offended his skills and culture was doubted. Then his head sagged slightly.

"Well most of it. The swords I was supposed to get more training with but things became too chaotic. First the fourth shinobi war, then the Ootsutsuki Invasion, then the damn Empire shows up. Pity really, those two are really special to me." He picked up the swords and smiled at them slightly.

The first was a gift from his teacher when he learned that Naruto had an interest in kenjutsu. It was shortened, really just an elongated tanto but it was made to bear similarities to Kakashi's family blade the White Light Chakra Saber, made famous by his teacher's father Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang. Naruto's lacked the white energy when channeling chakra, instead giving off a slight gold look from his own chakra color.

The second was even more special. It wasn't until he was made a chunin that he was given the blade. His mother's blade, the one that had changed her title from the Red Hot Habanero of Konoha, to the Red Death. It wasn't really an Uzumaki heirloom, but it was an extremely fine blade and it was his mother's. He had hoped to learn to use the Katana in combat in her memory but never really got the opportunity to train in the use of a blade.

Ahsoka nodded at his statement. She could see it in the way he stared at the swords. They were no mere blades. While she didn't know the history behind those specific swords, she had seen items like that before. Back before the fall of the Jedi. Force Blades were ancient and rare, mostly kept in museums. They were superior to vibro blades in practically every fashion except cost efficiency and there was the fact they had to be very well maintained to remain in fighting condition. It was no doubt much cheaper and easier to produce vibro blades than force blades, force blades need to be made by hand and imbued with the craftsman's energy during their forging. That was as far as her knowledge on the items went.

"And the letters and scrolls? You fight with them too?" Ahsoka jibed slightly at the boy.

"A habit I picked up a long time ago. Always kept all my most important things hidden on me, where only I could get it. That way people have to steal me to steal my stuff." He joked back getting a slight grin from her.

"You know, I have been meaning to ask. What is it exactly you plan to do now kid?" She asked. She half expected him to spout off how he was going to rush back to Ninsu and rally his people to throw out the empire. It would be a waste. Someone among his own people had already sold his world to the devil, that is the Emperor. It didn't matter anymore if he rallied people to his cause, a world with large amounts of force sensitives with morally grey ideals and a history of warfare was not about to be simply released from Imperial control. Imagine her surprise when Naruto sighed and clamped his eyes shut tilting his head back with a frown.

"You know." He began. "Part of me, a really _REALLY_ big part of me wants to just go home. To see the forest surrounding Konoha and try and convince my people that they are making a mistake by trusting Palpatine and his Empire. A year ago, I probably would do just that. I'd be dead too, and my people would still be plodding along to slavery without a care in the world." He turned his head and opened his eyes surprising Ahsoka with the expression he had on his usually smiling face. His eyes were cold and nearly glowed in intensity form the look of determination he shot her.

"I figure there are other people who have their own issues with the Empire. I don't mean to brag or anything but I am pretty skilled with these knives, I also know how to use a blaster now thanks to time spent running through some of the Ootsutsuki simulations on Tsuki." He shot her a cocky grin getting her to smile back at the teen.

It was a bit surreal for her with this kid. He was almost like a jedi in so many ways. His peaceful ideals, and belief in freedom. His skill in combat and not to mention his surprisingly new, yet still strong connection to the force. It had been some time, but suddenly Ahsoka felt like she actually knew why it was the force had drawn her to Naruto Uzumaki.

She wasn't going to train him to be a jedi. No matter how similar he was to one, he would never be a jedi. The Jedi she knew shunned attachments and emotions, they chose a hypocritical path of mixing compassion with apathy. Naruto was practically the antithesis of that ideology. His attachments and bonds had given him strength. Made him capable of feats most couldn't dream of when he was still practically a child. No, she would not teach him to be a jedi, but she would teach him to use the force, and if he wished, to use those blades of his.

"Well, Naruto…" She started catching his attention as he began putting his items away. "What if I told you I might know someone who needs an apprentice?" She gave him a sly grin as he scoffed in amusement.

"Oh, and would this person be an enemy of the Empire?" He shot back sending her his own amused smile.

"They just might, then again they aren't big on freeloaders so you might just owe them already." She joked causing his eyes to widen slightly as she walked off into the ship.

"Hey wait a minute, I never asked for your help, I would have busted out again eventually you know." Naruto began, though internally he was a bit relieved. He hated owing others, but he had already felt like he owed Ahsoka so much for simply pulling him off Jedha. If being her apprentice paid her back through his work, and taught him to use his full range of abilities then honestly he welcomed it.

Turning back to his gear to put it away as he heard Ahsoka simply laugh him off and he couldn't hold back the massive grin spreading onto his face.

One more time. He would trust someone, one more time. Luckily for him the Force seemed to think that was exactly what was in order as his decision would eventually set a chain of events into effect much to his benefit and many others.

* * *

**Two Years Later**

**Aboard the Phantom**

**05 BBY**

Having just left the Ghost, Hera and Sabine continued their argument that had filled most of their day already. The Mandalorian was still angered by the fact she felt cut out of the loop with intel and her combination of trust issues and generally stubborn nature fueled the problem even more.

"So what's the deal, is Fulcrum just another smuggler like Vizago? Why all the secrecy?" Sabine began again trying to weasel any kind of information about Fulcrum as she could.

"Oh, It's no secret we're fighting against the empire. We need as many allies as we can get." Hera responded in a manner as if she was teaching her something valuable with those words.

"How do you find a way of answering questions without giving any answers?" Sabine was more exasperated than truly angry at the moment.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Hera asked with a slight smile causing Sabine to nod at her with actual hope.

Before their conversation could continue the comlink activated and through a distorted voice called out to their ship.

"Phantom this is Fulcrum, come in."

"This is Specter-2, Fulcrum." Hera said while Sabine reached for the commlink.

"Why don't I talk to him." Sabine asked with a cocky voice only to get Hera's finger pointed in her face while the Twi'lek scowled.

"Don't you dare."

"Already at the rendezvous supplies are unloaded and ready, should I wait?" Fulcrum cut in unknowingly interrupting their argument.

Sabine reacted too quickly for Hera to stop. "Yeah stick around, Specter-2 and I would love to talk to you."

Fulcrum hesitated a moment. "Specter-2 whats the problem?"

"No problem, Fulcrum. Specter-5 decided to help with the supply run." Hera responded while shooting a glare at Sabine.

"Understood. Wait one." Fulcrum responded, surprising Hera.

"Well seems like we might just meet Fulcrum after all." Sabine said with a smug grin. Only to get another glare shot her way by Hera.

"Phantom, this is Maelstrom, Fulcrum is unable to remain at the rendezvous, however I will remain to help load cargo and speak with you." A second distorted voice came over the commlink. This one was deeper and had an obvious accent to it though beyond that it was too distorted to really glean anything from.

Sabine frowned slightly and Hera sighed tiredly. Already plans were being changed on what was supposed to be a simple grab and go mission for supplies.

"Understood Maelstrom." Hera replied.

"Wait who is Maelstrom?" Sabine asked ignoring both Fulcrum and Maelstrom terminating the connection.

"Maelstrom is Fulcrum's partner, or maybe second in command I'm not sure on their relationship, but they work together." Hera replied. She knew less about Maelstrom than Fulcrum and in all honesty she was worried about what the interaction would be like once they arrived. She didn't need Sabine doing something to piss either of the two off enough that they broke ties. Connections between her various contacts and the like were tenuous enough as it was. Throwing attitude in just made it a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone was too jumpy to keep ties with people they had issues with unless absolutely necessary.

Eventually the ship made it's landing at the abandoned Fort Anaxes. The fort was rather small, though the majority lay hidden within the asteroid where it was carved out.

"So where's the mystery man?" Sabine asked.

"I dunno, maybe they didn't like your attitude, I know I didn't." Hera replied, though she was also wondering. Maelstrom had said he would be there.

"Let's just get the cargo." Hera said as they moved toward the obvious stack of containers.

As they approached the containers however a figure stepped out from one of the towers nearby lifting a hand in greeting. It became obvious Maelstrom was a he. He wore a dark set of rugged clothing largely hidden behind a worn brown cloak that concealed much of his form. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties which somewhat surprised the girls as they had expected someone older. Further analyzing him bore a few more details for the Specters. He had a somewhat heart-shaped face, however his actual features were rather aristocratic in appearance. He had wild blonde hair that just reached his neck with bright blue eyes and oddly enough whiskers on his cheeks. He wore a unique pair of plates on either bicep that seemed to be carved with some symbol causing Sabine to wonder if they were similar to the various Mandalorian clan markings typically painted on their armor. The most notable features however were the blaster on his hip and what they assumed to be a vibroblade across his back.

"Specter-2 and Specter-5 I assume?" Naruto asked with a friendly smile, squeezing his eyes shut and grinning broadly, looking much like a fox.

"That's us, so you must be Maelstrom then." Naruto nodded to Hera when asked.

"Let me help load up your cargo then we can talk about whatever it was that was bothering you." Naruto shot them another smile before activating the grav-lift on the nearest container and motioning for the girls to lead the way.

As they walked Sabine shot Naruto another studying glance before sidling up beside him getting a raised eyebrow from him.

"Maelstrom huh? Seems a bit arrogant of a name to choose." Sabine said with a cocky grin while ignoring the glare from Hera.

"Well, a name is a name, most of us don't choose our names Specter." Naruto replied with a warm smile.

"Wait so your actual name is Maelstrom?" Sabine asked.

"Something like that." Naruto returned. "What was it you wanted me out here for anyway? You can load these all yourselves pretty easily."

"Well, I wanted to know what exactly is going on. I feel like we can't take down the empire on our own so there must be others. I need to know this isn't all for nothing, I need to know I'm not walking into a nightmare here. I've already been down that path." Shooting a glance at Hera with the last comment making so she understood what precisely she was talking about.

Hera chewed her lip. She could understand why Sabine was upset, why she wanted more information. Her past had led her to the point of not being so free with her trust as she once was. However Hera was more concerned over what Maelstrom would say. If he just freely gave out information to Sabine that could lead to him becoming a dangerous leak in their operations. However if he simply ignored her questions it could damage her own crew as they started dividing over more and more issues.

Naruto stopped and looked at Sabine dead in the eyes for a moment. His friendly almost glowing demeanor from earlier disappeared. His blue eyes became like chips of ice and he seemed to stare directly back into the girl's own hazel orbs. He analyzed every feature about her, not that he hadn't already done so when the pair of women set down with their ship. She was athletic and obviously Mandalorian, which intrigued him as their people sounded much like his own. Her orange highlights amused him as well as the large amount of orange on her armor and clothes. He always loved brighter and more vivid colors. Still, he kept the cold look in his eyes as he spoke.

"You aren't the only cell of people rebelling, but I am not about to give you anything on the others. Why would I, for all I know you are an imperial spy. So not a chance Cyar'ika." His tone was cold but not rude. It was more like he was simply speaking with finality to put the discussion to rest.

For her part Sabine was a little surprised by the fact that he seemed to speak some Mando'a. She was also a little confused or perhaps flustered by his choice of name for her. Cyar'ika essentially meaning sweetheart. She wasn't sure if she should be offended by that or not. Luckily for both of them Hera cut in by grabbing Sabine by her shoulders.

"You need faith Sabine. Faith that there is a long term plan that's bigger than you or me, bigger than Lothal, even bigger than the entire Outer Rim." She made sure to lock eyes with Sabine. "Have faith in that and in us. We know what we're doing." She turned and left Sabine alone in the cargo hold for a moment to allow the girl a second to think.

Once back outside she met with Maelstrom who seemed to be waiting for her. He held out a data disk and nodded conspiratorially when handing it to her. The boy shot a glance back toward the ship before turning back to Hera with his grin back in place.

"You know, you make one hell of a motivational speaker there Specter. Your group must be something else." He smiled at her as they turned back toward the ship.

"Thanks. You know you didn't actually have to stay behind, we could have gotten this loaded up and the intel could have been dropped like normal." Hera said as they began walking back toward the containers Sabine catching up.

"Eh? Well Fulcrum actually would have had no real issue staying behind to settle this little disagreement but you Specters aren't the only ones we have to give supply drops to. Fulcrum isn't one to typically expose themself to such things but you Specters have done good work out here. Anyway Fulcrum took the supply ship to head to the next location I should be able to catch up before then though." Pointing at what Hera had originally assumed to be an old clone wars fighter. Looking again she noticed the ship was obviously altered heavily. Honestly the basic hull of the vessel was almost all that remained visibly the standard.

"I usually run as the escort for the supply ship when we do drop offs, but the next stop on the list is close enough and usually secure enough I'm not needed terribly." He smiled at his ship, the usual reaction for pilots that modified and maintained their own 'babies'.

Reaching the containers Naruto froze, though this went unnoticed by both girls for the moment.

"Hera, I…" Sabine began. Part of her feeling a need to apologize for being so obsessive about this whole thing. Sure she still had her doubts but she was sated for now and honestly the argument was a rather small point of conflict.

"Look." Hera pointed out to obvious scratch marks near the remaining containers.

"There was one more container just a bit ago." Naruto growled drawing his blaster and scanning for threats around them. Internally he was kicking himself for snooping through the old barracks and supply buildings rather than watching over the cargo while waiting for the Specters to show up.

"Who else is here?" Hera asked.

"Noone, at least no one that was with me or Fulcrum." Naruto responded. "Why would they drag them, all of these containers have anti-grav lifts. It doesn't make sense."

Sabine and Hera drew their own blasters and slowly followed Naruto into the abandoned fort's hangar bay. Both Naruto and Hera flicked on lights in their free hand while Sabine followed nearby with a blaster in each hand.

Eventually the trio came across the container but stopped. It was a mess, literally torn open, several spots sheared right through the thick metal used as the container's outer covering.

"Whoever did this was pretty eager to get at what was inside." Sabine said as she glanced around warily.

"Too eager to just flip the latch and open it?" Hera replied, causing Naruto's eyes to narrow.

"We're not dealing with who so much as what. We should finish loading the rest of the supplies quickly." Naruto said while beginning to lead the others back to the entrance after glancing at the wrecked transport shuttle ahead of them.

"Why was this base abandoned exactly?" Sabine asked to no-one in particular.

"Infestation." Naruto replied as he backed away slowly alongside the others.

Suddenly Naruto turned and blasted a creature in the face behind the trio dropping the beast as it screeched in pain. Around them dozens more began scuttling through the debris hopping from cover to cover moving in on their prey.

"Frynocks, spectacular. Specters make a run for it!" Naruto bellowed as he blasted another beast before Discarding his flashlight and drawing out his blade in his free hand and joining them as the dashed for the exit.

The Specters were surprised by the sword as it began to faintly glow before it easily sliced its way through one of the creatures mid leap. The trio continued to run killing a handful more of the beasts before making it out of the hangar and back into the sunlight. Taking more defensive positions once they were back outside the trio waited for the creatures to continue. For a moment neither side made a move until a shadow fell over the area and the beasts made their charge another pair falling to the combined blaster fire of the three rebels.

"Those creatures can't take the sun." Hera commented as the three took a breather.

"That's good except, do you see the size of that asteroid, that's going to block out the sun for a long time." Sabine pointed above them causing Naruto to grimace at the size. She was right, when that asteroid passed over them they would be in the dark an awfully long time.

"How long?" Hera asked causing Sabine to scowl at her.

"I dunno! Long enough to become lunch!" She snapped.

"Luckily ladies, we aren't planning on staying, let's finish loading the containers and get off this rock." Naruto cut in.

As the trio loaded up the last of the containers Naruto turned to Hera. "You should prep for launch I'll help Specter-5 finish loading the last two containers, we'll be cutting it close enough as is." Hera nodded and started prepping the shuttle before realizing an issue.

As Naruto and Sabine returned with the last of the cargo they noticed Hera's scowl. Simply pointing down at the pooling fluid Naruto slapped his palm onto his face and grumbled something in his native tongue neither girl could understand.

"Specters 3,4, and 6 were supposed to run a diagnostic before we left for the run but they evidently got distracted. I just got off comms with the Ghost, they're on the way but…" Hera trailed off and glanced at the asteroid that neared to where it would be blocking the sun.

"No way that they get here before that asteroid puts us in shadow. What about your ship, we could use it to bug out till the Ghost gets here and we can fix the Phantom." Sabine said causing Naruto to sigh.

"No good. My ship barely has room for the pilot with all it's mods. No space for all three of us and before you ask, using the guns I have on her would kill us right along with the Frynocks. The cannons are made for ship to ship fighting only. With the amount of rhydonium around here, not to mention the fuel leakage means we would all be joining our monstrous friends." Naruto explained.

"Wait a minute! Actually the rhydonium can help us. We don't know how many creatures are in there so we could set up groups of canisters and take them out a wave at a time in controlled explosions." Sabine suggested.

"That's a good plan but how do we get them close enough to the cannisters to be effective." Hera asked.

"We can't risk blowing all the canisters at once it will be too large of an explosion otherwise we could just shove them all into the entrance of the Hangar and blow it sky high." Naruto pointed out.

"We'll need bait." Sabine said.

"Where are we going to get bait." Hera asked, causing Naruto's eyes to widen before he let out a loud sigh.

"We're the bait aren't we?" Naruto asked and Sabine nodded with a smile causing him to pinch the bridge of his nose. Was this karma for his reckless actions when he was younger? Probably. Damned force always getting the last laugh.

By the time the trio had set up their traps, the asteroid was beginning to drift into position. Pulling a pair of blaster rifles from the underbelly supply stash on his fighter Naruto armed himself and Hera with slightly more powerful weapons while Sabine stuck to her pair of pistols.

As the shadow drifted over the first set of Rhydonium containers the Frynocks began to charge. Blasting the first set of containers killed a hand full but more seemed to simply take their place. Opening fire the three rebels blasted beast after beast and still they kept coming. Falling back the Specters rushed to their next level of defences while Naruto moved at a slightly slower pace taking more precise shots than he would be able to while rushing. As more of the creatures joined the fray his mind rushed to try and calculate if they had enough explosives for their plan to work.

"Fall back for wave two!" Hera shouted causing Naruto to finally break out in a sprint, surprising the girls by how easily he caught up to them.

"Wait for it!" Naruto hollered as he took down a pair of the creatures with Hera and Sabine making their own kills.

"Now!" He shouted and the three blasted the containers as the main body of the pack passed by them, killing or injuring several.

Getting a chance to breathe both women took a second to tease one another while Naruto stepped forward to try and see what was left to fight. Suddenly a shrill screech from the creatures and dozens of glowing eyes showed the beasts on the hunt once again making him realize something.

"We don't have enough explosives." He whispered to himself in worry.

"Maelstrom wave three! Come on!" Sabine yelled to him snapping him out of his thoughts.

Diving behind the next layer of cannisters Sabine and Hera opened fire on the cannisters killing yet more of the beasts and still it wasn't enough.

"Wave four incoming! We have to keep moving!" Hera said as the two girls continued to pick off the charging creatures and fall back to the Phantom now with only a single layer of cannisters blocking their path.

Joining them Naruto glanced back and forth he grimaced at the advancing pack. Sabine and Hera blasting the last line of rhydonium canisters to take the next large group buying them a little breathing room but not much.

"We didn't plan for a wave five." Hera scowled.

"There's even more than we thought. Phantom?" Sabine questioned while motioning toward the ship.

"Not inside, those things will tear it open like a tin can. Go up top to use the vantage point." Naruto said while blasting another Frynock that got too close for comfort. The girls helped one another up and reached out for Naruto to lift him when one beast lept from the right surprising them and slashing deeply across his back sending both himself and the creature tumbling past the ship.

"Haar'chak!" Sabine shouted. "Hold on!"

"No stay up there!" Naruto shouted back as he drew his blaster pistol and killed the creature that had tackled him. Drawing the blade off his back with his other hand.

Looking at the circling pack he grimaced. He was cut off from the specters by a good distance and a lot of the beasts. Glancing up at Hera she followed his sight when he turned it toward the gun tower nearby.

"Go we'll try to cover you!" Hera responded getting a nod from Naruto as he blasted one creature before driving his blade into a second.

The fight continued, Naruto having disappeared into the darkness within the gun tower followed by several of the creatures. At first the occasional flash of blaster fire showed he was still alive somewhere in there, but by now the flashes had stopped for a time, leaving the Specters to assume the worst.

"They just keep coming!" Sabine cried out as she and Hera fought back to back against the seemingly endless swarm of beasts.

"Tell me something I don't know!" Hera snapped back.

"We're going to die!"

"That's no secret!"

As if on cue the Ghost appeared above them lights shining down on them with Zeb and Ezra on the ramp. At first the Frynocks seemed to fall back from the light before they realized that it didn't hurt them like natural light. It didn't take but a second before the beasts began their charge again. Now though with added support from Ezra and Zeb the beasts were kept back slightly more.

"Sabine, I got your back!" Ezra shouted as he hopped down to the roof of the Phantom alongside the two women, his crush for the elder girl getting the better of him as he tried to show off.

As Sabine and Hera climbed aboard the Ghost, Ezra turned around with a cocky laugh.

"These guys aren't so tough." He said with a smile.

Sabine's eyes widened in horror though as behind him another Frynock reared back to slash him with its claws, however before it could the arm it reached back with was sliced off cleanly before the creature could slash at him and was kicked off of the Phantom.

"Stop showboating brat and get on board!" Naruto shouted as he knocked Ezra out of the way of yet another Frynock before slashing it across the face.

Ezra stared up at the man for a moment before Sabine hopped down and joined them.

"Kid come on!" Sabine said as she hoisted Ezra aboard.

"Maelstrom come on!" Hera shouted, she noted the clothing he had been wearing earlier was in pretty rough shape and a large bloody bandage covered his back where he had been slashed earlier.

"No, I have been here too long as is, I have my own ship and I have to rejoin Fulcrum. Another time Specters!" Naruto shouted back with a smile before jumping off the top of the Phantom and slashing his way past a few Frynocks and sprinting to his ship faster than any human could normally travel before gearing his ship up for take off. With both ships lifting off, Hera ran to the cockpit and took over for Kanan as she knew far more about the Ghost than he did. Rerouting the power to the hull she shocked the straggling Frynocks clambering across the vessel. She then engaged the magnetic lock for the Phantom to pick it up with the Ghost and lifted off. Circling the Ghost aboard his own ship, Naruto waited till the lines of sight were clear and the Ghost was out of harm's way and he began blasting the surface of the rock to kingdom come.

"Next time we drop here, I'm bringing one of those old rotary blasters from the clone wars." Naruto chuckled.

The two ships jumped into hyperspace and drifted beside one another before he came over the commlink of the ghost.

"Well, not that it wasn't fun, but I think next time I might have to turn you and Specter-5 down for the whole meet and greet thing Specter-2. Until next time Maelstrom out." With that his ship turned and jumped away toward Ahsoka's location. Luckily it wasn't far as the fighter really couldn't handle much in the way of Hyperspace travel, just enough to get where he was going really.

Back in the Ghost things had finally settled down after the action and the crew was meeting in the cargo hold as the last of the supplies were being put away.

"Look Hera, we're sorry about the diagnostic thing. It won't happen again." Zeb began.

"Yeah, and don't worry about the fuel line we'll have it fixed up in no time." Ezra said with an awkward chuckle.

"Oh, worry? Why would I be worried about that?" Hera asked in a sarcastic voice only to be joined by Sabine as she stepped in.

"Maybe because the last time they said not to worry we nearly got killed and Maelstrom got sliced up like deli meat." Hera was a little surprised by her complaint about Maelstrom's injury but then again the boy had been very friendly and open with them as much as he could be in his position anyway.

"Hey wait, who was that Maelstrom guy anyway?" Ezra asked, his crush for Sabine once again causing him to jump the gun.

"Maelstrom is one of our informants and he probably saved our lives by helping us down there." Sabine snapped at Ezra causing the boy to frown deeper.

"Well I don't like him, we don't know him, he's not trustworthy." Ezra stated nodding to his own words as if it would make them more true. Sabine and Hera rolled their eyes and left.

"Yeah badmouth the guy who saved your life kid, that's a way to look good in a mandaloiran's eyes." Zeb joked laughing at the angry face the boy made at him.

In another part of the ship Sabine stopped as Kanan and Hera motioned for her to talk with them.

"Look Sabine I know you have questions, and wonder if what we are doing is making a difference, but I need you to trust me, and trust Kanan and the others, Fulcrum and Maelstrom too." Hera said with Kanan nodding beside her.

"I know, I know you guys do." She responded.

"We won't always be fighting alone, just like down there we are fighting with other rebels across the galaxy, soon we'll be actually able to see them too. Do you think you can trust us knowing that?" Kanan added into the conversation.

"I think I can try." Sabine smiled slightly at the two before her until they turned and left allowing her to enter her quarters with no problem.

As they walked down the hallway Kanan stopped Hera and glanced around so they wouldn't be heard. She was a bit surprised by his actions but waited for him to speak his mind.

"Hera that person with you on the planet. I could feel them. They were strong with the force, surprisingly so. Can you tell me if it was a Jedi?" Kanan asked. He hoped meeting another Jedi could possibly help him when it came to Ezra. At the moment all things considered, Kanan had a few gaps in his own training due to never finishing his time as a padawan not to mention the years of avoiding anything and everything that had to do with the force or jedi.

"I...I don't know, he could have been. He didn't have a lightsaber though he had some kind of sword that glowed slightly when he used it." Hera answered.

That surprised Kanan. '_An actual sword? Maybe like the force blades of old? If so that weapon would be ancient. The person was young too. Only a little older than Sabine, any training he got was probably after the slaughter of the Jedi, meaning he would have a teacher more than likely. Unless maybe he also had a holocron of some kind along with his force blade.'_

"I have to meditate on this. This could be big." Kanan said as he walked off to his room to try and organize his thoughts leaving a surprised and a bit confused Hera in his wake.

* * *

**Ah, alright now, yeah the first chapter was pretty much a prologue I mean our boy didn't even join up with the crew of the Ghost. Fear not, I mean the title is a Maelstrom among Specters for a reason. It's a comin. Anyway First important note! Ages, they be different!**

_**Naruto:**_ **when meeting Ahsoka is sixteen, not even a full year passed between the war and the empire showing up it's horrible no rest for the pure hearted. Also his age will seem off to those of you who are more here for the Naruto than the Rebels (Which is all of you) This will be explained shortly! Anyway so he is 18 when he meets the specters in the writings up above. **

_**Ahsoka: **_**She is 29 when she finds our guy, and 32 by the end of the chapter mmm timeskips.**

_**Sabine: **_ **She is sixteen when she meets Naru, you honestly think this story isn't going to have a romantic subplot by the only available female within his age range and your dude Naru? Come on we all should accept by now that Naruto simply can't stop himself from getting feels for every other girl he meets/saves/fights with. Drama is what people want.**

_**Ezra:**_ **He is suddenly only 13 how cruel it's as if he is only supposed to fill the annoying younger brother role usually meant for Konohamaru, and his awkward flirting with Sabine is going to be even worse with an odd unnecessary love triangle. Delicious.**

**The other ages not any different than canon and unnecessary to look into at the moment.**

**The second and arguably far more important note is that the history and canon timeline of Naruto are...tweaked. Yeah we'll just call it tweaked. Simply because A. Star wars galaxy needs to be tied together someway, and B. I like when my characters suffer even more than is necessary as pain builds character! So yes there will be a bit of angst and emotional stuff but dammit angst and feels can be fun too, believe me. **

**Hmm probably forgetting a note, probably something to do with my other unfinished stories or something but you didn't come here for that did you. If you did...well I'm sorry I'm bad at remaining focused and they are in the works, just the slower works. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Another chapter coming up for Maelstrom Among Spectres, I hope you lot are enjoying it. For this chapter Naruto will be actually joining the crew and beginning his series of adventures alongside them. **

**One major item of note, being as I don't know japanese beyond a very miniscule amount I have run anything Naruto says through google translate to at least have the general meaning of what I want him to say, so if any lines from Naruto's native tongue seem a bit poorly done that would be why.**

**A second major item of note is that at the bottom of this chapter I have a series of answered questions and concerns from reviews or pms. If you would like the answers please give it a gander.**

**A final major item of note is that the time between these first two chapters will be shorter than the following ones, however Chapter three is already underway, I have decided not to post a chapter until I have begun the next one. **

**Anyway please enjoy.**

* * *

**Aboard the T-6 Shuttle '**_**The Sketto' **_

**04 BBY**

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at the sounds behind her, she could tell her charge was agitated, even if the boy would never admit such things out loud. She had long since picked up on the fact that social interaction was something he had trouble with. It struck her as odd that such a good kid could have that issue. According to him in his younger years he was a loud mouth always trying to get attention and throwing a fake smile everyone's way. The first time he had sent that same fake smile her way she felt he should have spent his days trained to be a diplomat or politician. It was perfect for making other's lower their guard, according to the blond.

Now, here she was pawning him off to a small group fighting the good fight around the Lothal system. In all honesty it made her feel a little guilty, over the past three years the two of them had formed a close bond, much closer on his part. It didn't take much to sense the emotions coming off of him, he was practically a big ball of the stuff even if he could hide the physical tells extremely well. That made it all that much worse when he had clammed up the last two weeks. Ever since she told him she intended to send him with a different group partially due to his unique circumstance and experience he had plastered on the old mask she had spent over a year painstakingly peeling away.

"So we'll be landing soon huh." The boy asked from behind her. Just barely underneath his words Ahsoka could feel the frustration.

For what it was worth she should have been surprised he took it all as well as he did. He was definitely one of the most bullheaded and stubborn people she knew. She knew how badly multiple betrayals had shaken his faith in others, and this almost felt like the same thing even if she knew she was doing what was best for him. She expected to get into a shouting match, they had over much smaller things. This though, she hated the grim acceptance of their goodbye from him. It made her realize how much she didn't want to send him off, how much he had come to mean to her.

It was funny how life worked. She had never really sought out a family, though she had several people who she had come to regard as father, uncle, sister, brother. Now that she herself was an adult caring for and teaching someone she had come to find as another member of her odd and scattered family.

He was her son in everything but blood. She hadn't said anything to his face, but in the years they had been together she couldn't help herself. That made it all the worse that she was pushing him away. It was less funny how life worked, now that she truly thought about it, it was honestly more cruel. Give her a bond she didn't want or plan for, and then leave her the choice of either pushing him off onto a crew of capable rebels that would treat him like he should be treated, or haul him along with her for her own selfish reasons into quite possibly his death.

With no other choice she would be placing him in the care of Hera and Kanan and their Spectres. Over the last year alone they were proving to be a pain for the empire, and despite wanting her boy as safe as possible she knew he wouldn't tolerate not being involved in helping the galaxy get rid of the Empire. It helped that he had a respect for the crew of the Ghost and had already met Hera or Specter-2 as he knew her and Specter-5.

"Hey, are you okay, you are sort of spacing out." He said. His voice startled her slightly and brought her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, just thinking about things." Ahsoka responded while giving him a soft sad smile, which he returned.

He had an idea of what she was feeling honestly. He was feeling a similar dread of parting with the woman he had affectionately and secretly dubbed mom, not that she knew. It wouldn't be all that surprising from an outside view of their relationship if someone was to look at his past. The closest he had to a mother figure was Tsunade and in all honesty he had barely known her a few months before leaving with Jiraiya, then when he returned everything moved so fast that he barely spent time with the busy woman. Sure they were cousins and loved each other greatly, but simply didn't have as a deep a bond. Ahsoka though he had spent nearly every moment with for the last three years. She had taught him even more than he had learned when the Empire first came to Ninsu and their bond had always seemed unshakable.

"You know you don't have to feel guilty." He spoke again, causing her to perk up to listen slightly better. "I mean, I don't like that you are not taking me with you for whatever you are planning, but I know that it isn't because you want to get rid of me." He smiled more warmly at her with his usual vulpine grin.

She was quiet for a moment. Looking back she should have expected him to pick up on what really was going on in her head. The former jedi had to let out a breath as she released the tension from the situation. Naruto had always shown how perceptive of other people's emotions he was. Perhaps that was a sign of his connection to the force. Perhaps it was just a natural ability of his people or maybe just him in particular. Either way it was as if he knew exactly what was bothering her without her saying a word.

"Believe me, part of me wants to bring you with me, but the responsible part…" '_The part that sees you as my own kid.'_ She didn't, or more properly couldn't, voice that thought. "The responsible part of me wants you to be safe, and with a crew that will treat you right. These people, the spectres are good people, especially their leaders. I know Spectre Two will do everything she can to make you a part of their family."

"I know, I saw it back on that asteroid. I trust your decision Ahsoka." Naruto said quietly as they both went back to their own tasks while piloting the shuttle to Lothal's surface.

They sat in silence after that, the ship slowly descended and as it landed they both remained still, watching the crew members of the _Ghost_ step out and wave at them. It took a moment but eventually they both stood and began making their way to the door.

* * *

**With the Ghost Crew**

Sabine was rather excited. Finally a chance to meet the elusive Fulcrum and not only that but to see Maelstrom again, not to mention the fact that he was going to be joining their crew. It had been nearly a full year since the supply run at the old abandoned republic Fort Anaxes. Ever since that mission she had been chomping at the bit to actually get to know some of the people working the middle ground and interacting with different rebel cells.

Fulcrum had evidently been around for a while, Hera had told her that they had been fighting the Empire almost since day one. Maelstrom on the other hand had only been in communication with the Ghost crew for about two years give or take a few months. Still though he was the only real person she had met in recent times doing the same as she and the other Specters.

From the things Hera had told her Fulcrum had largely groomed Maelstrom as their right hand and they both had connections with other rebel groups. It had taken her till roughly a week ago to get her to tell her anything. Even then she didn't know hardly anything about them. She didn't even know if Fulcrum was male or female, let alone if she could trust them though she was already a bit biased towards yes for Maelstrom. Hera and Kanan were giving them the benefit of the doubt in this case because of the long running time they had fed them leads and targets to use against the empire as well as the numerous supply drops. Though Sabine had no inkling that Kanan was especially interested in Maelstrom joining them after sensing his connection to the force at Fort Anaxes the year prior.

Her enthusiasm was starting to be felt by the others as well. Sadly both Ezra and Kanan were off on their own journey with the Phantom doing Jedi related things. That only left Hera, Zeb, Chopper, and herself to greet their new member and their long time supporter from the shadows.

As the ship touched down in front of them Sabine waved along with Hera, while Zeb simply leaned against the doorway, closer to the hidden belt of thermal detonators hanging there. He was optimistic about this meeting, but rebel cells didn't survive for long by easily trusting newcomers, even if they had been partially supplying them over the years and helped save Hera and Sabine's skin.

Finally after waiting a while the two figures emerged from the shuttle's doorway, the first almost immediately identifiable as female was slightly shorter than the other. Besides the fact that she was an obvious Togruta little more could be gleaned from her, due to the robes and hood which did a poor job of masking her montrals and head tails. They did however mask her face in shadow. Beside her was a taller, and familiar, human male. At least Sabine assumed he was human, the odd markings on his cheek might distinguish his race or just be markings from his culture. He still had bright blonde hair, almost unnaturally so, a sunnier color than any she had ever seen on anyone else. The same could almost be said for his eyes, though bright baby blue eyes were a lot more common than sun colored hair. Maybe he dyed it. That would be a good conversation starter for befriending their new member, she did love dying her own hair after all as the purple and orange scheme indicated to everyone who knew her.

Unlike the woman's grey robes the young man wore a more fitted black robe with an orange sash tying it off. He also sported a pair of carved metal plates on either bicep causing Sabine to once again wonder if his home was at all similar to Mandalore. Both certainly carried themselves as confident powerhouses, not to mention that plate was all too similar to the way Mandalorians marked their gear. She was a little shocked by how much he had seemed to have grown in the last year. More than an inch at least and he was broader than ever now more of a young man than the teen she remembered from the Fort.

* * *

**With Naruto**

Naruto took stock of the crew, he would be joining. The co-leader that Ahsoka had informed him of Specter-2 or Hera Syndulla was evidently the owner and pilot of the Ghost which he had to say was better than what he had been expecting as the ship looked well maintained, since he knew the crew had a few run-ins with imperials since a year ago and the ship looked as good as it did back then. The Twi'lek looked to be about a half decade younger than Ahsoka was yet he could already see she was the apparent 'mom' of her crew with the way she was pulling the Lasat member of her crew away from the ship like a mother scolding her child. He smiled, he had gotten that vibe with how she handled Specter-5 the last time he saw them too.

Speaking of the Lasat, Naruto immediately identified a veteran of conflict, not surprising knowing what happened to most of the Lasat race. He couldn't help feeling a kinship with him through that simple fact. The tall purple man seemed gruff and Naruto would probably enjoy swapping stories with him. The last of the crew there was the brightly colored Mandalorian girl. Specter-5 had definitely been one of the brighter points he was looking forward to, with joining this group. Meant both literally and figuratively. Hell, if he could scrounge up some half decent body armor that fit him he might see if she would paint it for him. Gotta love the orange after all.

Naruto definitely appreciated her flare for loud colors. Though personally he felt even more orange would look nice. A real Mandalorian, that was something he was intrigued by. Really this crew had everything, according to his master the other two that weren't present were a Jedi and his apprentice or padawan or whatever it was that Jedi went by, on top of the already intriguing Lasat survivor, overly artistic Mandalorian and veteran Twi'lek freedom fighter. This crew was intriguing at the least and down right fascinating at best.

"It's nice to finally see you in the flesh, I'm Fulcrum, this is Maelstrom." Ahsoka introduced.

"Yeah, I guess since I will be joining you guys you can call me by my actual name though. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to officially meet you." Naruto bowed his head slightly to the gathered Specters.

"Well it's nice to meet you for real Naruto. I'm Spectre-2 Hera Syndulla, this is my ship the Ghost. This is Spectre-4 Garazeb Orrelios and you've met Spectre-5 Sabine Wren." Hera introduced herself and her crew.

The greeting was interrupted by agitated sounds coming from an odd astromech droid from the ship's entrance.

"Oh and that is Spectre-3 C1-10P we just call him Chopper though." Sabine informed the two strangers.

"Naruto why don't you and the Specters get to know one another, I need to speak with Specter-2 briefly." Ahsoka said with a small polite smile. Naruto hesitated briefly before stepping away with the others. They offered to show him the ship and he happily accepted.

Following Sabine and Garazeb, Naruto soon found himself being familiarized with the ship. They started by showing him to what would be his room, well his and Ezra's room. The crew had evidently decided after being informed by Hera that a new member would be joining them where everyone would be sleeping. Naruto would bunk with Ezra, and Zeb would be bunking in the parts room with Chopper, which sounded a little unfair as the droid only took up a tiny modicum of space. However Zeb was a veteran and senior member of the crew, Naruto had no real problem with him getting a little more privacy and space. It made sense after all. Little did he know that Zeb would have preferred to continue sharing his quarters with Ezra than bunk with the droid that seemed to perpetually cause him a headache.

The common room with an adjoined galley was cozy and already Naruto had to admit the ship seemed both lively and comfortable. Compared to most of his history with starships ever since being introduced to the wider galaxy it was a far cry from the worst he had been in. As the short tour continued Naruto glanced through the viewports up front at Ahsoka talking with Hera. Ahsoka looked agitated. More so than he was used to seeing, but not to the point of being truly distraught. Still it made him uncomfortable to be separated from her even more. Thankfully the reassuring look Hera gave the Togruta woman calmed both her and Naruto somewhat. So he turned his attention back to learning about his new home.

* * *

**With Ahsoka and Hera**

The two women separated from the rest of the group as Naruto was led off on the tour of the Ghost. Ahsoka sighed lightly as she watched her apprentice hesitate before heading off with the others. A mixture of emotions flooded her mind. However she tamped them down, the boy didn't need a crutch to coddle him like she partly wanted to do, he needed actual companions. This was for the best. Not to mention she didn't really have the privilege to attempt to balance him with the needs of the growing rebel movement. She simply couldn't place him above the galaxy as a whole.

"You care about him a lot don't you?" Hera's question pulled her out of her thoughts and she turned her attention to her fully.

"Yes. I really shouldn't be as attached to him as I am but he has become…" She grimaced. "Well I don't know."

"I have thought for a long time I was at peace with myself and focused, but he confuses that notion I can't help but worry about him seemingly all the time." Ahsoka said a bit wistfully. "Which means, allies or not, if you don't fulfill your end of the bargain here, you can forget about our deal." Her voice had tightened with menace and she locked eyes with the Twi'lek pilot.

Hera was a little surprised by that. She had gotten to know, perhaps not Ahsoka but at least Fulcrum to a decent extent over the last couple of years. To see and hear the usually cold, calm, and efficient woman be so emotional and devoted to someone shocked her. Actually she had only heard someone talk like that in one other instance.

"So, is he half-human or did you adopt him?" Hera asked causing Ahsoka's eyes to suddenly widen.

She stood there in shock for a second before a faint smile crossed her face. She had to accept it it seemed. The blonde had only been in her life a short few years and yet he was every bit her son as he would have been if she adopted him as a baby. They had bonded closely, perhaps her first truly strong bond since the fall of the republic and the massacre of the Jedi.

"I guess, you're right. He is Ninsu, a shinobi, actually he will tell you what that all means when he feels its right, it's his secrets. Just remember what I said alright. Stick to our deal and everything will get better for all of us. The whole galaxy." Ahsoka said with conviction before sighing slightly. "Eventually."

Hera smirked at her counterpart before nodding and glancing back to the ship. She could already tell somehow that the new guy would be a headache, but from the way Ahsoka talked about him, maybe it would be a welcome one.

"You don't need to threaten, it's about time people started looking out for one another again. If he is capable of half of what you said he is then it's even less of a problem. Hmm, actually that brings up a good point. You said he is a force user. Like a jedi? I have two Jedi already and can't help but feel the target on our back from that." She was a little worried about the attention more force wielders could potentially bring onto them. Their whole plan of action was supposed to be too small to draw attention to themselves. Now however that had begun to become less and less possible. Kanan though had really wanted the boy to join if he was able to use the force.

"No, not a jedi. Not even close. I'll let Naruto explain when he feels comfortable, but just know he is trained, but he is nothing like a Jedi." She said before mumbling one last sentence. "At least nothing like the Jedi I knew."

Hera heard her, though she didn't question that. The bitterness in Ahsoka's voice was plenty apparent.

"He is already well trained with his abilities, so Spectre-1 and Spectre-6 can do their own Jedi training and the like without worrying about his interference. Naruto might come off as a clown sometimes, but he is actually very aware of other's feelings and needs so I doubt he will get in the way." Ahsoka continued.

"So he isn't a jedi but he is trained in the force? Does that mean…" Hera began, her eyes narrowed.

"No, Naruto is a shinobi, warriors similar to other force users from his home world. Like I said, it would be better if you get to know him and he tells you. It's his life to talk about after all." The former Jedi groaned when looking at the time. She had only a short window before she needed to be moving again. She had to meet up with a contact on Iego soon and it was a bit of a journey due to the different obstacles that kept the system relatively free of Imperials.

"It's time, I need to say goodbye. There is one thing I need to warn you about though. Naruto's old world, Ninsu is in the Unknown Regions. Just out of the Empire's reach until a few years ago. They sent an expedition but really it was practically a conquest. From what Naruto told me the Empire played his people against one another. I won't tell you everything about him, but you need to be warned, when I found Naruto he had just escaped from a prisoner transport. He is absolutely certain someone betrayed him to the Empire but doesn't have any ideas on who. I have my suspicions but the point is, many of the people on his world have become inquisitors or something like them. Be careful, the Empire will be spreading them across the galaxy soon to hunt rebel cells down." Ahsoka said as she turned toward the Ghost. Naruto and the others stepped out shortly after and came up to them.

Giving one last look at Hera, silently told her to keep quiet about what she had said around Naruto who would likely feel he was putting the others in danger. Hera nodded and the former Jedi moved to greet her apprentice.

Ahsoka surprised Naruto by cupping his cheek warmly. She smiled at him before she brought the stunned boy in for a hug. Gradually he returned it and the pair eventually separated. Naruto's face split into a wide grin his hand scratching at the back of his head and his eyes squinted closed to hide the tears threatening to form while Ahsoka smiled affectionately back.

Without a word she turned and headed back to the Sketto. All the while Naruto watched her leave. It was a short, and silent goodbye, he really didn't expect to be so saddened by their separation. Still he waved as the ship lifted off and took to the skies. His mind wondering when their paths would cross again, he knew that they would, just not when.

"Well." A voice broke Naruto out of his thoughts and he turned to see the three members of the Ghost crew smiling slightly at him. "C'mon then lets get you settled while we wait for Kanan and Ezra to get back. I'm sure they will be excited to have someone else that's able to use the force on board." Hera said leading Naruto back inside to help him get comfortable.

* * *

**Three Weeks Later**

It had been roughly three weeks since Naruto had joined the Ghost crew, to mixed results. Originally excited by the prospect of another force sensitive on the ship Kanan had soon come to be wary of the boy. He didn't outright say it but Hera could tell that he was put off by Naruto's point of view about the force. His idea of balance, actually sounded like balance, balance between light and dark to make both even. She didn't typically question Kanan on his philosophical point of view, but the 'debates' he had with Naruto had her and the others honestly more inclined to agree with the blond. Didn't help that the blond was more stubborn than even Zeb, he wouldn't back down from a point he believed in unless completely proven wrong, which seemed to be rare in his arguments with Kanan.

Besides that fact Kanan had mentioned in passing to the ship's pilot that Naruto was in fact not all that bad, even if he seemed prone to accomplishing what should have been impossible pranks. Kanan took two days to figure out that Naruto had cut his hair just slightly while he was sleeping. How he had gotten into the room and out without being noticed was impressive, how he had managed to actually trim even the little that he did off Kanan's head without waking a Jedi, no-one could figure out.

Ezra had originally been excited at the prospect of another force-user as well. However the moment he remembered exactly who he was and noticed how easily the Shinobi got along with Sabine the fourteen year old padawan immediately disliked him. It was a little embarrassing how obvious that the boy was jealous of Naruto, though to his credit Naruto took it in stride and laughed practically everything off that came his way and only retaliated with mild pranking sprees. Mild being a bit debatable of course.

Sabine and Zeb had both made a fast friendship with Naruto already which surprised Hera. All three of them had obvious trust issues but had latched onto one another immediately. Between sharing war stories, which shocked most of the crew to hear some of Naruto's exploits, and to see his scars.

Sabine had been getting a little closer to the blond since he took off his shirt to tell the crew some stories a couple days ago. He was chiseled, but that wasn't what caught the girl's eye, though it definitely didn't hurt that their newest crew member had the body of a warrior. What caught the Mandalorian's eyes were the scars criss crossing his body. She often stared at the one across his back from Fort Anaxes. Even more impressive to her was the fact that evidently at one point Naruto's body healed at a rate that most small injuries simply wouldn't leave a scar with only more major blows leaving a mark. He still healed amazingly fast but now, he scarred just like everybody else no matter how small the wound. To Mandalorians things like his scars were what marked him as a warrior, which with a warrior race typically meant high standing.

Despite the memories associated with the claw marks on his back the most noticeable were the two menacing scars on his chest and shoulder that looked like something had impaled him and shot lightning through his body. The fact he had survived them was astonishing. Others also blew their mind. Like the surgical mark on his side where his comrade had cut his chest open to work on his heart on a battlefield. Evidently he had died for a short while prior to that. Even Ezra had to accept that sounded both terrifying and impressive.

As Naruto told Zeb and the others about how the Empire had turned his people against one another. Many being led to believe that the Empire's lies about spreading peace and order across the galaxy he had paused then explained his so called best friend's position during that mess.

Hera had listened to Naruto talk as he explained the fourth shinobi war and the war between the Ootsutsuki and the unified nations of Ninsu as well as the Empire's sudden arrival only a little over a month after the war's end. He talked about how Naruto and Sasuke, two of the most successful shinobi at the time had reconciled old wounds and fought side by side against the Ootsutsuki. Naruto said it didn't matter in the end. He was stronger than most shinobi thanks to the force and simple training and genetics, but even the small force the Empire had sent had their armies outmatched. They didn't have the spacecraft, or even enough blasters to arm an army let alone prep one for battle in space. They couldn't actually fight them head on, and the majority of the inhabitants of Ninsu were more than happy to take the aid the empire offered in exchange for becoming essentially a puppet state after the devastation of Shinobi warfare over the last several years.

The captain of the _Ghost_ was more and more certain about who had sold the blond out to the Empire the more he told about his past. While huge gaps in his history remained to her point of view, preventing her from getting a good picture of Naruto's life before the Empire came to his home, she felt she had gotten a rough idea of him as a person and she was honestly impressed. Even if his tales were embellished he was definitely experienced in conflict and would probably fit in easily with the Specters.

At the moment Naruto, Kanan, Zeb, and Chopper were all at Old Jho's pit stop. While Kanan was trying to beg some jobs from Jho, Naruto enjoyed a game of Sabacc with a few locals. Zeb was also playing Sabacc with Chopper trying to help him out, the main difference between the two tables being of course that Naruto was cleaning house and Zeb was almost broke. Gambling always seemed to slide in Naruto's favor, no matter the world it seemed.

Glancing over at Zeb and noticing how badly it was he was losing Naruto let out a soft chuckle before standing and stretching deciding to quit while he was ahead as it were. That is to say, no one wanted to keep playing with him assuming he was cheating, which they had no way to prove despite how right they were. Blame Shinobi poker, part of being a shinobi was cheating and from a young age children were taught both how to cheat without being caught and how to catch cheaters, added to that, Naruto was a regular card shark back home. Realizing he was done for the day he decided to head back to the _Ghost._ With a pocket full of credits he couldn't help but be in a good mood.

Once he stepped aboard, Naruto noticed Ezra sitting on some crates with Hera and Sabine working on a speeder bike nearby. Smirking in a bit of a triumphant grin as he walked over to Hera, Naruto counted out seven parts of the winnings and gave six of them to Hera getting a surprised look from the captain. Noticing her confusion Naruto tried to explain.

"Oh, uh well back home, shinobi are organized in squads kinda like the _Ghost's _crew, and on missions spoils unless it's something that can't be divided like a weapon or something are divided equally among the squad. Since everything we do is pretty much a long term mission I figured I'd share any loot or spoils I get." Naruto said while scratching the back of his head in that familiar way when he felt on the spot.

"Hmm, sounds a lot like thieves." Ezra said. "Ow!" Only to get a smack to the back of the head from Sabine who glared at him from behind her helmet.

Naruto like always took Ezra's words in stride. "Shinobi are expected to be many things, thieves, soldiers, spies, statesmen, assassins, you name it. We're trained from childhood, and if you are a part of a major clan or have special circumstances sometimes it's from the moment you can walk."

That caused Hera to frown slightly. The more Naruto talked about his homeworld the less she liked it. The blond himself was fine, as far as she could tell so far, but how the hell someone as nice as Naruto could come from a world like that continued to confuse her. Ezra was actually a bit interested, but he was hung up on the assassin part. Honestly to him it kind of sounded like the Shinobi fit in with the Empire all too well.

Sabine in contrast to the other two was a bit excited by the information. His people sounded so much like Mandalorians it was crazy. Though she had to admit his people took it a little farther than even Mandalorians usually did. That thought though did remind her of home which in turn brought her mood down slightly as she tried to push down the memories of the past.

As Naruto took a spot leaning on the wall while watching the girls work on the speeder Zeb, Kanan, and Chopper came up the ramp with the stranger that Zeb was losing his game of cards to in tow.

"Hi. I can explain." Zeb started looking a bit rattled by something or perhaps nervous.

"Explain what?" Hera asked raising an eyebrow at the Lasat as he stepped passed her.

"Everyone," Interrupted Kanan as he and the stranger climbed the ramp. "This is Lando Calrissian. He needs a fast ship to move some cargo past the Imperial Blockade on Lothal."

Beside him Lando performed a flourishing bow to the crew before speaking. "Yes, for some reason this planet has an unusually large Imperial presence."

Kanan shot a mild grin toward Hera while scratching at the back of his head sheepishly. Were Naruto's mannerisms spreading?

"But are you sure you can get this vessel past the blockade? Captain...Hera is it?" Lando asked.

"It is, and the _Ghost_ can mask both its signal and signature, we'll get you passed the blockade. What's the cargo?" Hera replied calmly, shifting into business mode.

"I was told no questions asked." Lando replied. Naruto frowned at that but the rest of the crew didn't seem bothered so he ignored it.

"That's fine it just costs more." Hera responded still keeping her business like tone and posture.

"Kanan and I already settled on a price, but I assume he requires your approval." This got a raised eyebrow from Naruto and a noticeable scowl from Kanan.

"He doesn't." She said.

"Excellent." Lando said as he began shaking Kanan's hand. "When the jobs done you'll be paid handsomely and, as agreed, I'll return your droid." Lando said with a smile causing Naruto's face to turn into a scowl as his hand fell to his blaster. He didn't like where this was going.

"Return our...Droid?!" Hera asked in a shout. With that Chopper rolled over and began buzzing angrily and smacking Zeb on the leg.

"Uh, yeah. Funny story. You see Lando and I were playing Sabacc and I kinda...bet Chopper." The Lasat said with a nervous tone.

Naruto quite literally growled. He was admittedly new to the ways of the galaxy, and he knew for the most part most droids were little better than tools, but some did develop personalities, their own sentience practically and Chopper definitely fit in that category therefore Naruto considered him his comrade.

"Gomi yori hikui mono dake ga nakama ni se o mukemasu!" Naruto snarled openly at Zeb causing the towering Lasat to shove Naruto away from him.

"What did you even just say?" Zeb asked with narrowed eyes.

"Only those lower than trash abandon comrades." Naruto growled while trying to calm down. "It was the first thing my teacher taught me when I began my training and it seems no one else in the galaxy follows that sort of ideal!" He clenched his fists trying to calm down. Honestly he was a bit shocked at his own anger over the situation. As much as he liked Chopper and considered him a comrade, he was still a droid and technically wasn't alive right?

That was too confusing, he decided. Chopper had free will and seemingly emotions even if they were artificial. That made him alive enough in Naruto's book. Still he didn't really know these people. So what was the real reason he was so angry. Angry and a bit worried even. It confused him and made him more angry.

Zeb frowned deeply at that, in the short time he had come to Naruto he had definitely started to gain a healthy respect for the kid, but now he felt almost like he was slapped in the face. What was worse was he felt himself agreeing with the blond in his head and his guilt over it worsened. Hera was a bit stunned by the sudden mood swing of Naruto, he had been in a pretty good mood until now, but suddenly she remembered Fulcrum's warning about the boy's past and she grimaced internally before turning to glare at Zeb.

"Garazeb Orrellius, Chopper was not yours to bet!" She yelled.

"Kanan said it was okay." Zeb offered raising his hands in surrender to the irate woman succeeding in making her whip around to the group's supposed leader.

"And you should know better! Chopper is a part of this crew!" Hera yelled at the Jedi jabbing a finger in his face.

"Woah, woah, we should go. I need to pick up my cargo and I don't want to keep my supplier waiting. Besides if all goes well there won't be anything for you good people to argue about." Lando cut in calming Hera down slightly.

Enough that she only slugged Kanan once as she huffed and turned away to the cockpit.

Later in the cockpit with Hera at the controls and Kanan in the co-pilot seat, Lando and Chopper sitting in the back of the room Hera stewed as she took off from Lothal.

"Ohhh, you're quite the pilot. That's the smoothest take off I've had in years." Lando flirted unashamedly with Hera.

Rolling her eyes Hera tried to focus on the task at hand. "And you're quite the smooth talking smuggler." She replied in a sarcastic voice.

"Smuggler, oh that's such a small word." The man said, sounding a bit hurt. "I'm more of a...Galactic entrepreneur." Kanan shot him a glare at that.

"That means businessperson." Lando said as if educating a child.

"I know what it means." Kanan replied flatly while his glare intensified. "Chopper I need you to fix the signal modulator so we can get past the blockade." Kanan ordered the droid only to get an agitated reply from the droid in return.

"Chopper's right, he's no longer a part of the crew. He doesn't have to do what you tell him anymore." Hera said with a sour look shot at her co-pilot.

"I can see you have some things to work out." Lando said to the two before turning to Chopper. "I wonder, my new friend, if you'd be kind enough to give me a tour of this fine ship."

The droid agreed and began leading Lando around.

A short time later the man stood admiring one of Sabine's graffiti style paintings when chopper showed up and offered him a steaming cup of tea causing Lando to over dramatically thank the droid.

"Can't believe the little bolt bucket is actually waiting on that guy." Zeb grumbled watching them from across the common room.

"I can't believe you lost Chopper, good thing I wasn't there. You'd have bet me." Ezra joked.

"Eh, wouldn't have covered the pot." Zeb cracked back causing Naruto to chuckle at the banter as he polished his knives, something he did almost religiously now as a form of meditation. "Besides I think Calrissian cheated." Zeb whispered to the others.

"You're just a sore loser, Lando seems nice enough." Ezra said.

"I'm telling you I don't like that guy." the Lasat whispered again this time jabbing a thumb toward the smuggler.

At that moment Sabine stepped into the room only to be called over by Lando.

"Sabine. I understand this is your work. Reminds me of Janyor's protest paintings on Bith."

Sabine smiled at that. "Janyor of Bith is a major influence."

"Well your work is even more stunning in its simplicity." Lando flirted.

"Hey I told you your stuff was good months ago!" Ezra shouted across the room standing up.

"Yeah, but you didn't know why." Sabine said with a bit of annoyance at the kid while flicking her hair out of her face.

"Aww now, milady that's hardly fair. He's just a child with no experience of the galaxy." Lando chided softly causing Ezra to scowl at the man while both Zeb and Naruto bit back chuckles at the kid's expense.

"Hey that reminds me, Sabine, would you be willing to do a commision of some kind? I have a few projects that could use some help if you're interested." He asked while shooting her his usual vulpine smile causing the girl to smile back at him warmly.

"Yeah sure when we get done with this job, I'll take a look at it." Sabine responded. Definitely intrigued by what it was the boy wanted her help with.

"Great. Sounds like a plan." Naruto replied, now biting back a laugh at a confused Ezra as he tried to decide who to glare at for the moment.

Turning to Lando, Sabine got a bit nervous.

"I, uh, I don't suppose you would want to see some of my more impressionistic pieces?" She asked the man. He seemed to know more about art than anyone else on the ship. It was definitely refreshing.

"I happen to be an impressionistic connoisseur." Turning to Naruto and Ezra Lando smiled a friendly smile. "That means-"

"I know what it means." Ezra bit back crossing his arms and scowling. Naruto just rolled his eyes and went back to putting away his gear.

After Sabine and Lando left the room Ezra turned and whispered to Zeb asking him what that meant.

"A lot less than he thinks." Zeb said with a cheeky grin.

"I don't like that guy." Ezra grumbled.

Finished collecting his stuff and now laughing Naruto headed back to his shared room with Ezra. There was enough room in there to actually perform some katas if he pushed everything out of the way and locked the door. He didn't need someone stepping into the room while he was in the middle of training and catching a blade to the throat. That was the whole reason he didn't practice this in the more public areas or the cargo hold, the cargo hold only locked from the crew compartment side of the ship in case of a boarder of some kind. He could workout there no problem and work on most of his physical training even. But swinging around deadly weapons wasn't a good idea in such areas.

Rolling up his left sleeve Naruto unsealed a black and red sheathed Ninjato bearing a single white spiral shape on the grip of the blade. He took his time and slowly and methodically began running through the different strikes and blocks of his personal form, a unique combination of the form left to him by his mother in the scrolls and the forms taught to him by Ahsoka formerly used by the Jedi. Granted this wasn't a lightsaber, however it was still a blade and quite a few aspects did carry over.

While Naruto continued his daily training the _Ghost_ dropped out of hyperspace and made contact with Merchant-1 before docking. After finishing up and resealing the blade, Naruto headed to get a drink noticing that Hera, Kanan, and Lando were still aboard the merchant ship.

Having decided to join Sabine and wait for the other's return he was surprised when only Lando and Kanan came back with a single large crate. Naruto narrowed his eyes and began glaring daggers at Lando.

"Where's Hera?" Sabine asked.

"Tell her about Hera, Lando." Kanan said with a frown.

"Hera is following the plan, which is what we should be doing if we want to get her back." Lando said while Zeb came into the airlock.

"Where's Hera?" He asked only to be ignored by the others.

"What plan is she following?" Kanan asked.

"I told her to take an escape pod." Lando replied with a smile as if it was obvious.

"You never told her that!" Kanan snapped back.

"I did actually, weren't you paying attention? Besides Hera strikes me as very capable, we are lucky to have a captain like her." Lando said walking off with his crate.

"I know that! Wait. What do you mean 'we'?"

Sabine turned to look at the group leader shooting him an unamused look.

"Quite a day you're having. First you lose Chopper now Hera." Sabine sniped with an obviously agitated Naruto shooting a glare at Kanan from behind her.

"Neh, Sabine wanna spar, I need to train more in case I'm lost in a card game or sold to a slave trader by our great leader." Naruto growls getting a nod from the girl with the two left a frowning Kanan behind them. When worded like that the situation stung even more.

Lando decided to run some checks over his...crate in the common area so Naruto and Sabine decide to take over the cargo hold for their sparring session. As the pair went at one another Naruto held back from enhancing his abilities with chakra like he normally would in a fight. Without that advantage the spar was pretty close to even. What Naruto had over Sabine in strength and reach she made up for with her smaller size and flexibility. It was pretty close and before long both were drenched in sweat and breathing hard.

In the end it was Naruto's greater experience and training that won out as he caught her in a painful lock and forced her to submit. With the spar at an end both managed to stand at just the moment the door to the cargo hold opened with Lando pushing his crate followed by Zeb and Ezra curious to know what was inside until the trio noticed the two others in the hold with them.

Naruto rolled his eyes as Ezra was easy to read when he shot a blushing glance at Sabine in her damp and somewhat revealing workout clothes before glaring at Naruto causing the older boy to sigh and roll his eyes a second time. Lando also seemed to be appreciating the girl's appearance causing Naruto to narrow his eyes at the much older man evidently perving on his closest friend among the crew. Shocked a little bit by his own reaction he shoved the thought away. It was probably true that any man Lando's age looking at a girl Sabine's age like that would have set off the same feeling. It reminded him slightly of Pervy Sage honestly, but from what he had gathered so far on this job, Lando was not the super pervert with a heart of gold like his old master was.

After a moment Lando deactivated the grav lift on the crate and looked at the gathered spectators. "Have to be careful with this, it's sophisticated mining equipment."

"Your sophisticated mining equipment sounds like it's snoring." Ezra replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Just don't open it, and whatever you do keep it calm." Lando said as he began to climb the ladder.

As the four others begin to leave both Naruto and Ezra hesitated certain they heard breathing or snoring coming from the crate. Suddenly filled with anger again Naruto glares at Lando's retreating back. It doesn't take a genius to know Lando is lying, but what's more is that Naruto is certain he knows what he's lying about.

'_Something alive definitely, and if he exchanged Hera for it I'm leaning toward a slave. I'm getting into that crate one way or another.' _Naruto thought as he turned to leave.

Ezra on the other hand is simply confused on why supposed mining equipment would be snoring and also planned on opening it in secret. Neither actually mentioned it to the other, both assuming the others have tossed their worry about it to the side and intending to sneak back in later and open it if they can't get Lando to reveal it's contents to the crew.

Naruto stood beside Sabine as they both shot heated looks at Kanan and Lando as Kanan piloted the ship. It wasn't long before Hera's escape pod from the _Merchant-1_ blasted off and shot towards them causing Naruto to let out a mild sigh of relief. He hadn't been a part of the _Ghost _crew long but he definitely didn't wish for a life of slavery on any of them. He had begun to worry about Hera quite a bit as the minutes ticked by.

"In a pod, as discussed." Lando stated confidently as he swayed with another flourishing move of his arms. "You really should have more faith in our captain."

"OUR captain?" Kanan snarled back at the smuggler surprising both Sabine and Naruto as the usually mild mannered Jedi rarely showed such anger at someone without it being a fight.

"Um, we'll go prep the airlock." Sabine said, hopping to her feet and dragging Lando out shortly followed by Naruto and Chopper.

Hera easily guided the pod onto the airlock as the _Merchant-1_ began to come about and face the _Ghost_. Sabine grabbed her comm link to let Kanan know Hera was aboard.

"We should probably make ourselves scarce." Lando said as his voice hopped on the comm channel.

With no one around to hear him Kanan couldn't help but voice his opinion that somebody else should make themselves scarce, before jumping to hyperspace.

Meeting Hera at the door to the airlock, the three people and one droid greeted the captain of the ship warmly, happy she was back.

"You played that perfectly. Thank you." Said in a husky voice.

"Oh, you're welcome." Hera said with a friendly smile and a pat to Lando's shoulder before slamming a fist into his groin causing him to slump over in pain.

"I deserved that." He coughed out between gasps for breath. Naruto and Sabine nodding along happily. "Now can we get back to the job at hand, flying us past the Imperial blockade? Otherwise I don't have to pay you or give your droid back."

"No." Naruto growled pulling Lando's own blaster and pointing it at him surprising the others. "First you open that crate you just got from that other ship. I heard breathing from inside, so I'm guessing you just picked up a slave." The blond's features had hardened showing off what hid beneath his friendly demeanor. Someone trained from nearly birth and hardened through a lifetime of war to destroy others at the drop of a hat.

With that said Hera and Sabine's eyes hardened on the smuggler and Naruto tapped the business end of the blaster a bit closer to Lando's back. Lando thought about making a joke to try and calm them down, but the now painful prodding from the blaster on his spine told him that was probably not a wise move.

"It's nothing like that I assure you. I can show you." Lando said calmly and the group began heading towards the cargo area, Naruto keeping his new blaster trained on the man.

Stepping back up the walkway from the airlock the group is shocked by Ezra and Zeb running by chasing what appeared to be a pig of some kind. The little beast was scrambling across every surface of the ship dodging the two specters as they tried to catch and squealing in fright whole way.

"That was what was in the crate!" Lando shouted to the crew of the _Ghost_. "Grab that puffer pig but don't scare her!" He shouted as Ezra and Zeb attempted to corner the creature.

"Hah! Got her!" Zeb cried as he and Ezra cornered her near the cockpit with the pig between them and Kanan and the rest of the group.

"You're scaring her! I told you not to scare her!" Lando said as he marched toward them.

"I'm not scaring her!" Zeb yelled, frustrated with Lando giving him orders. Sadly his shout was enough to cause the puffer pig to do exactly as it's name implied. The pig inflated itself to try and seem more intimidating. This just succeeded in blocking the corridor between the cockpit and the rest of the ship.

"Woah!" both Specters 2 and 5 said shocked by the event.

"Huh so pufferpig was pretty literal then." Naruto said, gently nudging the animal. It's hide was surprisingly thick but also obviously very stretchy.

On Kanan's side of things, he finally came out of the cockpit demanding to know what was happening.

"Oh, um, it's a pufferpi-" Ezra began sheepishly.

"No, actually I don't wanna know." Kanan said as he turned around and just went back to the cockpit. Sitting back down the ship dropped out of hyperspace. "We've reached the blockade. I could really use Hera on _THIS_ side of the pig right about now."

"Yeah, I don't see that happening." Zeb replied as he and Ezra continued to poke and prod the impassable balloon-like animal in their way.

On the common area side of the pig the rest of the crew and Lando stood idly while staring at the inflated pig.

"Any idea what the imperials are hoping to find with this blockade?" Hera asked Lando.

"Rebels?" He offered with a half hearted smile.

"Besides that." She shot back with a glare.

"Unauthorized mining equipment perhaps?" Lando answered after a moment.

"And why would they be looking for that?" She asked while scowling certain she'd dislike the answer.

"Because I tried to smuggle some in a week ago." Lando said while leaning into Hera's space. The sudden change in her features to a deadly scowl caused him to back up and throw up his hands in defense of himself.

"The imperials are scanning for equipment, machinery. But our girl here is One Hundred Percent Organic!" He shouted as he slapped the puffer pig on the rear causing it to let out a squeak and inflate slightly once again. "Their scanners won't detect her, so long as your ship can mask it's signature." He said pointing at her.

"You know it can't until you ask Chopper to fix it!" Hera shot back hotly, turning away from Lando and stepping back out into the common area.

"Haha, you're catching on!" Leaning down to Chopper Lando put on his biggest smile he could. "All right, my little friend. Would you like to be a hero and fix it for me?"

Once Chopper had fixed the signal modulator the _Ghost _began to slip through the blockade, while this was happening Ezra and Zeb were still caught in the hallway while the majority of the crew relaxed in the common area.

"You know Sabine, once we get back to Lothal I'd be interested in purchasing some of your pieces." Lando said while flirting with the teen.

"Really? My work. You'd pay?" Sabine asked with a bright smile. Someone was actually willing to pay for her artwork. It was more than enough to get her excited.

"You know, it's pretty creepy when a guy your age hits on someone this much younger than you." Naruto said while largely ignoring Lando.

"Yes well age is little more than a number." Lando replied.

"Ugh, that line didn't make my skin crawl any less now than it did when I heard it as a kid." Naruto said with a slight shiver getting a scowl from Lando, but a surprised look from Sabine and Hera.

Having heard enough, Ezra began trying to scale over the Puffer pig and crawl through the space between the ceiling of the hall and the animal.

'_Oh, Lando will pay alright.'_ Ezra thought as he tried to squeeze through. Unfortunately in doing so he kicked the creature's head causing it to inflate even more causing all of those standing around it to be blasted backward.

Naruto managed to catch himself and Sabine and Hera before they hit the opposite wall. Though he didn't lift a finger to help the smuggler as he crashed into the ladder. He had to send a mental thanks to his body for having a chakra network allowing him to stick to surfaces or catch himself without sliding.

Unluckily for them, on the opposite side of the puffer pig, Zeb was also knocked away from the creature. However instead of just running into a ladder, Zeb fell against the control console to the ship disengaging the signal modulator.

Almost immediately TIE-fighters began closing in and firing on the _Ghost_. Naruto and Sabine each took one of the dorsal turrets and tried to hold the fighters off, however Hera was usually the one at the helm for a reason and the ship was essentially down two gunners and a pilot with Zeb and Ezra trapped on the other side of their positions and Hera likewise trapped in the common area.

"Uh, Kanan, when they shoot at us, Hera usually shoots back." Zeb said as he looked down cautiously at the co-pilot set up.

"Well I'm not Hera! I'm having enough trouble just keeping ahead of these guys!" Kanan shouted back as he spun the ship to the right as he dodged a group of shots from the pursuing TIEs.

As Sabine and Naruto each scored a hit taking down a pair of enemy ships, Kanan dove toward the planet below.

"Cloud cover!" Hera shouted over the comm.

"What?" Kanan asked a bit confused.

"Find some!" She shouted a second time.

"Oh. Right." He shook his head to regain his focus and dove again into the cloud bank nearby.

Dropping into the clouds the _Ghost _lived up to its name, fading away from the view of the TIE pilots. Unfortunately for them their prey didn't remain hidden for long sudden swinging wide and coming at them from an unexpected angle. Unable to bank away in time the fighters were easy prey for the _Ghost's_ guns as it blasted the fighters to pieces.

"Got 'em. Good call Hera, I think we're in the clear. You know, your job's a lot harder than it looks." Kanan said over the comm link. Back in the common area Lando sidled up beside Hera and smiled at her.

"Nice. He finally appreciates you." Lando said, but Hera wasn't buying his smooth talking.

"Alright, enough divide and conquer. You think by playing us against each other you'll keep us off-balance enough to get what you want." She leaned into his face pressing a finger in the center of his chest. "But what _YOU_ want, depends on _MY_ crew working together in sync. Is that clear?" She hissed at the man.

"As crystal, Captain." Lando replied holding his hands up in surrender again.

The situation was rather tense, until Ezra's hand poked out from between the Pufferpig and the ceiling as muffled cries for help were heard.

Finally setting back down on Lothal, the _Ghost_ landed near what appeared to be an old abandoned homestead. By now night had fallen and the clouds coupled with the darkness helped to conceal them from any more Imperial patrols, not that it would be very easy for the Imperials to track them down to this one homestead on Lothal they would have to search the entire plane afterall.

As the crew exited the ship Ezra started teasing Zeb about keeping the pig calm this time. Hera also began questioning Lando about the land while the rest seemed to keep an eye on him. Naruto had still yet to return his blaster as the blond had taken too much of a liking to it for the smuggler to get it back without some sort of resistance on Naruto's part. Choosing to ignore the fact that he seemed to have been robbed Lando decided to just focus on dealing with Hera.

"Bought the land off a charming fellow named Vizago." Lando said causing Hera to sigh and roll her eyes. Naruto took that to mean that the _Ghost _crew had some kind of history with this Vizago character.

"Perfect. But why was it so important to get this pig here?" Hera asked trying to get some information on arguably one of the worst jobs she the crew had done in a while.

"Because a puffer pig has a nose for precious minerals. It can do the job of a dozen mining scanners." Lando said as the pig set out sniffing at the ground.

"And the Empire doesn't want private landholders mining precious minerals on Lothal." Hera said in realization.

"We're done here. Pay us, and we'll be on our way." Kanan said from behind Lando with a short tone. He couldn't wait to put this whole mess behind them.

Sadly that wish was not ready to be granted.

"He has other debts to pay!" Azmorigan called out. The owner and operator of the _Merchant -1_ and his crew stepped out from behind various cargo containers and debris aiming blasters at Lando, Naruto, and the Specters.

"Did you forget, I introduced you to Vizago? I knew where you were headed." Azmorigan said with his watery sluglike voice.

"But you couldn't have hidden your ship anywhere close. Did you...walk here? You don't walk anywhere." Lando said, shocked that the extremely overweight Jablogian actually walked any sort of distance.

"I do what's necessary to claim my property, Calrissian." Azmorigan said as well as sprayed as spittle dripped down his baggy chin.

"What do you want?" Hera asked.

"I want my pig, and you, plus the ship and the crew for compensation but first I want to see Calrissian in a hole!" Azmorigan howled, again spraying spittle out causing Naruto to cringe at the grotesque scene. This was of course the same man who had been eaten whole by a giant snake as a boy and then blew said snake apart covering himself with it's entrails and hardly batted an eye. So the disgusting being before him was one that was barely a step above Hutts.

"Most of us want that last bit, but the answer is no-" Hera began to say, while pushing Lando behind her.

"Now wait a minute perhaps we can negotiate." Kanan said as he began pushing Lando in front of them. As he did though Azmorigan began gasping for breath as he experienced some sort of fit of rage.

"I have run out of patience! Get them!" He bellowed as he and his crew opened fire on the crew in front of them.

The band of rebels scattered to cover around the homestead. Chopper rolled over to an orange highlighted drum for cover while Naruto, Sabine, and Zeb ducked behind some containers. Ezra and Kanan ducked behind some of their own, and Lando scooped up the pufferpig and he and Hera took some off to the side. It would be a perfect set up to have crossfire on Azmorigan's hired muscle but Naruto still had his new blaster.

"Chopper, don't hide there that's a fuel canister!" Sabine called out to the astromech causing the droid to begin trying to push it back to the ship.

Behind their cover Ezra pulled out the hilt of his saber and moved to leave the cover but was stopped by Kanan. "No Lightsabers!" Kanan whispered harshly. "Not unless we-"

"You worry too much." Ezra grinned as he leaned out firing the blaster function of his saber, surprising his master as he blasted the thug on the roof of the homestead.. "I might not be able to sword fight yet, but I can shoot."

"Kid, you continue to impress." Kanan said while smiling down at his apprentice. Off to the side Naruto blasted a pair of thugs as they peaked out for a shot on Sabine and Zeb.

"Nice one Naruto!" Sabine hollered before turning back to the fight. Seeing this Ezra grumbled again before shooting a look at his master.

"Yeah, impressive just not as impressive as Naruto." He scowled as the fight continued.

With the blaster bolts pinging off of the cover around him, Lando couldn't hold onto the pufferpig anymore and it squealed as it took off across the small battlefield right at Zeb, Sabine, and Naruto's position.

"Zeb, the Pig scare it!" Hera called over to him.

"What, how?" He asked back as he stopped firing and turned to look at the captain.

"Just be yourself!" Naruto shouted at him jerking him back into cover from the blaster bolts heading their way.

Turning toward the animal Zeb cornered and terrified the poor thing causing it to blow up like a massive balloon again. Naruto seeing this gave it a hard kick sending it bouncing into the nearest thug taking cover behind a speeder.

"Sabine we'll use it to get on the roof. Zeb cover us!" Naruto ordered.

"Who put you in charge kid?" Zeb growled but started covering the two teens as they raced across the field using the pig as a springboard to jump onto the roof of the homestead and take the left flank of the battle.

After the two disappeared around the bend, Zeb noticed a thug taking pot shots at Chopper as he loaded the fuel he had stolen onto the _Ghost._ Taking careful aim he fired. The bolt nailed the target in the face saving Chopper from getting blasted.

"You're welcome!" Zeb shouted at the droid as he was ignored, not noticing Azmorigan moving positions behind him.

At the same time Naruto and Sabine were rounding up the last of Azmorigan's thugs forcing them to surrender after being surrounded. Sadly Azmorigan now had Zeb at blaster point and held him hostage.

"New terms! I get calrissian and this one lives." The rebels stepped out from behind their cover then and moved forward. "I get Calrissian and you all can go free."

"You got it." "Deal." Ezra and Kanan said.

"It's tempting, but the answer is still no." Hera said.

The situation began to become tense. Noone had a good shot on Azmorigan without risking Zeb. That is except Chopper who had complete control of the _Ghost_'s weapons for the moment. All it took to shatter the situation was for a single blast from the nose guns of the ship throwing both Azmorigan and Zeb into some crates and giving Zeb a chance to grab his bo-rifle.

"My terms: You and your men leave now and we let you live." Hera said with a note of finality. "Start walking."

With that Azmorigan and the last two of his thugs, the pair that Naruto and Sabine had captured, took off. Naruto cackled as Sabine shot around the feet of the thugs to send them scurrying. One of the two even tripped face planting on the dirt before rejoining his fellows as they raced away from the homestead.

"I like everything that just happened except you let Azmorigan live." Lando said.

"I hate to say if Hera, but I'm with the smuggler on this. We should just kill them and dump their bodies into space who knows if they will be a problem in the future." Naruto said while watching the fading trio as they left.

"I think Lando has a problem now." She said causing the crew to turn to Lando. "You don't have the credits you owe us, do you? In fact, you never did."

"But I will when my baby works her magic." Lando said as he gently stroked the pufferpig. Getting actual growls from Naruto and Zeb.

"You mean, if she finds what you're looking for AND you've mined AND smuggled it off world?" Hera asked a little heat bleeding into her tone as another set of growls could be heard from the more animalistic duo of the crew.

"I can give you back your droid." Lando offered causing Chopper to go into a fit of buzzes and annoyed sounds.

"That won't satisfy your debt with me. Not after what you pulled." Hera said barely biting back her growing anger with the man.

"How about we settle that debt with a little game of Sabacc?" Lando asked.

"Then you'll just have to owe me one." Hera said as she and the crew briskly walked off.

As he stepped past Naruto offered the grip of Lando's blaster toward him. Smiling Lando reached for it only for the blaster to spin out of reach before being holstered on Naruto's side. Smiling in fake friendly fashion Naruto shoulder bumped past the smuggler before joining the others on the ship.

Lando frowned at that. He rather liked that blaster. Still though he turned to the last of the Specters to leave and gently laid an arm over the top of the droid.

"Don't worry, my small metal friend. We shall meet again." If droids were capable of being haughty then Chopper most definitely fit the bill at the moment as he pushed Lando's arm off and joined with the crew.

As Zeb and Chopper went right back to squabbling over whether or not Zeb should apologize Hera and Kanan paired off from the rest of the group.

"So that's it. We just walk away without the creds?" Kanan asked sour about how Lando seemed to get the better of them.

"We got Chopper back at least." Hera replied.

"I'm looking for a positive here." Kanan joked causing the Captain of the ship to smile back at him.

"There are a lot of things we couldn't accomplish without him. You should appreciate that more." Hera chided lightly.

"I always appreciate you Sabine." Ezra said as he the others walked past causing Naruto to laugh and roll his eyes at the kid.

"Yes Ezra I know." Sabine replied annoyed by the boy's hounding but mostly amused by his crush on her.

"We still need food and fuel I guess." Naruto said changing the topic.

"Oh hey Chopper stole Lando's fuel!" Sabine hollered as Chopper pushed the canister in front of her.

"And with the credits Naruto won from his own Sabacc game we can pick up some food and other supplies without having to hit an Imperial depot." Hera pointed out getting Kanan and Zeb to look at the blond who shot them a devious smile.

"Say guys you two wouldn't want to play a game would you?" Naruto asked causing both men to roll their eyes despite their smiles.

As the ship lifted off Naruto led Sabine back toward his quarters intent on getting the commission he had requested started. For her part the mandalorian was interested in what he wanted her to work on. She knew he wanted her to paint something, but beyond that she didn't even know what she was working on or what he wanted it for.

"So earlier this week I managed to pick up some added armor to wear. I have been putting it off for a while because prior to joining you all, most of my fighting was done in my fighter." Naruto said as they entered the room.

"Oh yeah I remember, you had your own fighter that time at the asteroid. Whatever happened to it." Sabine asked out of curiosity.

Naruto teared up a bit comically. "She, uh she gave her everything for the cause." Naruto said as he wiped at the tears causing the girl to awkwardly rub his back in comfort. "Er… Ahem, anyway. Look."

Naruto pulled a small case out from under his bunk before pulling an armor set out that looked like an odd cross between a mandalorian breastplate and something else in style. Either way the armor was honestly unique, it was unpainted yet and just scuffed metal but the design looked as though several layers almost like scales ran down the chest. The pauldrons were also rectangular rather than rounded like on most sets of body armor.

"I saw it and it kind of reminded me of some of the historical armor from back home, so I was hoping you could paint it up to be a bit more respectable. I'm thinking maybe some dark oranges and yellows." Naruto said as his eyes got cloudy like he was envisioning himself battling an inquisitor in brilliant orange armor. Which he honestly was, not that Sabine knew that.

"That's easy I can have that done in no time." Sabine said as she continued to inspect the armor.

Behind her Naruto smiled before chewing his lip for a moment in thought and finally sighing.

"There is one more thing." He said though his voice was a bit softer.

Pulling out his mother's sword, the girl's eyes widened as she took in the blade. While it was sheathed she could tell Naruto cared deeply about the weapon. It wasn't overly ornate but it did have the same recurring swirl that Sabine had seen on one of the odd plates Naruto often tied around his arm.

"Can you paint this symbol on as well? I don't know what color would be best, so whatever you think. Just make sure it's on there." He asked. Getting a nod from her.

"Sure no problem, but what does that symbol mean anyway." She asked. She really wanted to get her hands on that sword but Naruto had taken to almost cradling it like a child. She rarely saw him act so oddly, which was a stretch to be sure but still she didn't want to budge in when something obviously meant a lot to him.

"Uh, well the swirl was supposed to represent a whirlpool. My clan were known for a lot of things, but one of the basic ones was that they lived on an island surrounded by Whirlpools. The Uzumaki were legendary warriors, and this sword was my moms. She uh, left it to me when she died. Since I'm the last Uzumaki I have a lot of old stuff that my clan had. It's all hidden away now, but someday if I ever go home I want to restore my clan and make people recall the Uzumaki as they once did." Naruto said, as if he wasn't even talking to Sabine anymore, just thinking out loud. "Er yeah so to get started, since I want the whole galaxy to one day know the name Uzumaki I need to start branding right?" He said snapping into his smiling mask as he always did when his emotions bubbled to the surface.

Sabine was a bit taken aback by everything she had just learned. The first thing in her mind was that his people and the Mandalorians were even more similar than she previously thought, though clan mentalities weren't really a rarity in the galaxy, warrior clans was something she was more than familiar with. Add onto that, that his entire clan seemed to have been wiped out she suddenly was taking the paint job a bit more seriously. The symbol she was gonna be putting on it represented a lot more for Naruto than she believed even he realized. The most notable piece of information was most definitely that he was the last of his clan, and everything she had seen so far pointed to him having been a very lonely person most of his life. She wasn't as good at interactions as Kanan or Hera, but she could tell Naruto hid most of his emotions behind either a friendly smile or an angry scowl. Like he refused to accept anything but the two extremes of being alright with everything or being a second away from stabbing something.

"I'll get started right away, you'll love it I promise." Sabine said with a warm smile getting him to look up from the sword in his hands to smile back at her. The hollow distant icey blue shifting to a bright warm clear sky blue in his eyes.

"Thanks I know I will." He said while the too edged a bit closer. "Now let's go out there and have a game of Sabacc so I can make you do this for free. Naruto said as he put away the blade and turned to leave causing the girl's jaw to drop before she laughed and followed him out.

* * *

**Alrighty a chapter done. Anyway as promised next is some answered questions.**

**1\. Yes Kurama and the other tailed beasts are dead, that will be answered further later on in the story but a short answer without going into detail is the nine tailed beasts willingly sacrificed themselves to save Naruto and his precious people. They are not going to be reforming either because of how they went about doing it.**

**2\. I realize many people feel Naruto has been severely nerfed because of the loss of both Kurama and his six paths chakra, however between now having his own expansive chakra reserves, a wider array of skills and powerful ability with the force I feel he hasn't honestly lost too much as he will be largely regaining power as he learns to harness his myriad of skills and abilities.**

**3\. I know there were some issues with the ages of characters, however as I mentioned previously the canon timeline for Naruto is tweaked, including expediting the fourth shinobi war to occurring earlier, and with a secondary conflict occurring immediately after, the story will eventually explain this as well, give it time. Anyway so the tweaked ages causes Naruto to actually be only 15 during the fourth shinobi war and only recently turning sixteen prior to meeting Ahsoka. It will be an important fact that shinobi generally have a much shorter life expectancy later in the story. As for Ahsoka's age, I have made a mistake there it seems, she should be 31 where as I believe I listed her as 32 I will make sure to keep that straight. Some of the other characters though I did alter the ages of.**

**4\. Population numbers of Ninsu and remaining shinobi. That is a good point brought up by reviewer mikpirat. A large part of the reason Ninsu was willing to accept what amounted to subjugation by the Empire was simply Ninsu has been devastated over the last few years. They already stood little chance against the superior numbers and technology of the empire prior to fourth shinobi war. By 5 BBY it would have been nothing less than a massacre, there simply is no way for them to defeat something like the Empire, with or without Naruto and Sasuke. Again both of them have lost their six paths chakra, and the tailed beasts are gone for good. It will take much more strategy to remove Ninsu from the Empire. Especially now that Naruto has been gone for years all while the Empire consolidated it's control with the loudest voice for independence refusing the Empire's 'aid' removed.**

**5\. Naruto is currently weaker than he was at the end of the fourth shinobi war. However he is by no means weak. I think many people have the wrong idea, his chakra is no longer sealed. He is an Uzumaki after all given some time and a safe haven Naruto easily removed the seal blocking his chakra. That being said, he has a much wider array of tools to use, and relies far less on spamming clones and rasengans than he would in the past. Prior to his capture Naruto was still able to create well over a hundred shadow clones without having tailed beast or six path chakra. It allowed him to learn much about the wider galaxy, or at least the surface knowledge needed to survive in the galaxy. Even while sealed he still wielded a small trickle of his enormous chakra, because it is simply so large. It's worth pointing out that he had access to his chakra again in the first chapter however I seemed to fail at properly pointing it out my apologies on that. **

**6\. Many people worry that with him using less chakra abilities and more other skills that he will lose those abilities I think. That's not the case in the slightest. It is far more along the lines of he has reached a similar mindset of Kakashi or other veteran shinobi of meeting challenges with proper level of force. In this chapter Naruto could have cloned himself and physically incapacitated Lando and literally carried him into the cargo area to see what was there. He didn't however mainly because he simply doesn't need to expend that much effort. It would literally be a waste. The same can be said for the fight. Spamming a hundred clones to overwhelm the thugs would easily work, so would simply surrounding them as he and Sabine did with ease.**

**7\. While I am pointing out that Naruto is still very powerful I must also point out some other power-scaling issues. Currently with his marginal force training Naruto greatly lacks in that area and his abilities are heavily emotional based, much like when he literally ripped a prisoner transport out of the sky in a fit of blind fury. The point I am making is he is very powerful, arguably the most powerful character period, but power is nothing without control. His chakra gives him a massive leg up, but Darth Vader can strangle someone on an entirely separate starship to death. It will be a long time before Naruto can openly challenge the Empire in any form simply because the empire can smash anything with enough bodies and weapons not to mention the inquisitors, Vader, and the Emperor himself. It's like a massive looming hammer.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again Chapter 3 here, with more on the way of course. Please enjoy everyone!**

* * *

**Lothal**

**04 BBY**

Ezra attempted to block and deflect the random stun shots fired his way by the rest of the _Ghost _crew. The boy was having a bit of a hard time, but at least Sabine, Chopper, Zeb, and Naruto were enjoying themselves. After a few minutes of little progress Kanan waved his arms to the other crew members calling a pause to the exercise.

"You've got the blocking down for the most part, but you shouldn't just randomly deflect the energy any which way. You've yet to hit the target I gave you." Kanan said pointing at the stormtrooper helmet sitting on a mound of dirt.

"Yet, key word is yet!" Ezra replied in a mildly cocky voice causing Kanan to groan.

"You're distracted, impatient, what's your rush?" The jedi asked his student.

"I don't want to miss Senator Trayvis's transmission."

"You don't even know if he'll transmit today."

"He's been on more frequencies lately and I have a feeling! Today is the day." Ezra said certain he was correct.

"Well! I have a feeling you're going to get stunned if you don't stay in the moment. This moment!" Kanan bit back before signalling the group to continue.

The crew was all too happy to begin taking shots at the kid again. Naruto couldn't fight off his grin as he fired a quick pair of stun blasts at Ezra. The kid was a lot like he had been when he was younger. Excitable and brash. The comparisons didn't truly stop there either but Naruto wasn't about to walk down memory lane while given the chance to snap a few stun shots at the kid that had 'borrowed' one of his kunai as a screwdriver the day before. Oh no, right now was time for a little payback.

Zeb stepped a little farther from Naruto with wide eyes when the blond's grin became a bit more predatorial than usual.

While they continued the exercise, suddenly Ezra seemed to be startled by something. Naruto watched as he opened his visor but then seemed to close his eyes. Suddenly Ezra was deflecting every blast back at the target he was given, shocking the group at his sudden success, until he collapsed.

It was only a moment before Ezra came to, but he was still a bit out of it. He groaned slightly and rubbed his head before looking up at the rest of the crew staring down at him in worry.

"I got stunned didn't I?" He asked.

In response Naruto held up the stormtrooper helmet and pointed at the still smoking blastmarks.

"No, you deflected every shot back at the target." Kanan said, proud of Ezra but still a bit confused on why he blacked out.

"I saw something."

"You saw something? You had a vision?" Kanan asked, with a bit of shock in his tone.

"I saw senator Trayvis, Kanan he knew my parents!" Ezra shouted surprising the rest of the crew.

"It was so real." Ezra began as they helped him to his feet. "You were there, and you were too. Slinking around in the dark. Troopers were everywhere." He said to the other crew members.

"Sounds like an average day to me." Sabine commented.

"Yeah except Senator Trayvis was there too, fighting alongside us, and he said he knew my parents!" Ezra said as he began walking while lost in the memory of his vision.

"Right, look kid just because you want something to happen doesn't mean it's going to." Naruto said with a pitying look toward the boy.

He remembered the amount of dreams he had of his parents coming to Konoha to rescue him from his childhood as a kid. The thought of them returning from a long term classified mission for the village and giving him a warm home. The dream always seemed so real, and when he was older and knew who his parents were he was surprised he had gotten the looks of them right in his dreams. In the end though. It was just his mind desperate to reclaim what had been taken from him as an infant. This was a little different but Naruto couldn't help but feel it might be that Ezra was seeing more of what he wanted than what was.

"But it might." Ezra said sharply causing Naruto to sigh. The kid really didn't seem to like him much.

Zeb popped Ezra on the back of the head as the crew headed back toward the ship.

"Oww, what are you doing?" Ezra asked the Lasat.

"Helping you to hone your Jedi powers. Why didn't you see that coming?" He said with a grin and a shrug.

"It doesn't work like that!" The boy replied with a scowl.

Another sudden punch this time from Sabine as she passed by.

"Oww. Stop!" He growled.

"Maybe if we keep trying?" She asked with a laugh as the group moved past the kid while he rubbed his shoulder.

Hera's sudden shout from the ship's ramp to hurry because the Senator was on caused him to forget all about the mild pain on his head and shoulder and race inside, landing a parting shot on Zeb as he did.

By the time the rest of the crew had reached the common room where Ezra and Hera were watching the broadcast the Senator was already on.

"Right on time!" Ezra shouted, getting shushed by Hera.

"Senator in Exile Gall Trayvis here, coming to you with a reminder that the Empire applies the term insurgent to anyone who dares defy their tyranny such as some very courageous souls on Lothal." The holoprojector stated.

"He's talking about us! He said Lothal!" Ezra said with a massive smile.

"I know, here it comes." Hera replied in a voice that told Ezra to shut up.

"To those rebels I have a message. The sun may have set on the old republic, but a new freedom can be won if we are brave enough to fight for it today. See you soon my friends." Then the recording cut out.

"He's coming here to meet us." Hera said a bit surprised by the fact that someone so well known was going to meet with them.

"Uhh, how do you know that?" Zeb asked.

"When I was with Fulcrum, we learned the Senator hides coded messages in his transmissions. When Trayvis mentions a world it's always the next one he visits." Naruto said getting a nod from Hera.

"How come the empire hasn't caught him?" Kanan asked a bit suspicious on how easy this sounded.

"Trayvis is too smart, you know he pirates the Empire's own signal. Just like my folks used to." Ezra said with a hint of pride.

"And the clues he puts in his messages on where to meet him are obvious to the locals but go right over the Empire's head. Watch." Hera then brought up the recording again for the odd message he had given toward the end.

"He said the old republic and new freedom."

"Well everyone knows the new freedom mural, it's painted inside the old republic senate building!" Ezra said, getting excited.

Sabine moved up and pulled up a hologram of the building in question.

"Hmm, been abandoned since the Empire built the Imperial Complex. Good place for a friendly get-together." She said.

"Tch, so when's this meeting?" Zeb asked.

"Duh, he worked sunset and today into the message should be pretty obvious." Ezra rolled his eyes.

"Yeah too obvious." Naruto said with a frown.

"We should have some insurance in case the Empire is more clever than we think." Kanan added.

"You've got a friend in the imperial complex right?" Hera asked Ezra. "So use that to find out for sure."

"I'll meet you at my...at my parent's house at 17:00" Ezra said before taking off.

Kanan went after him and briefly stopped him.

"Ezra about your vision-"

"Don't take it literally? Kanan I know it's right. You're always telling me to trust my feelings. Well I've never felt stronger about anything in my life." Ezra said before running off.

After Ezra left Kanan turned back to share a look with Hera. Before they both glanced at the only other person to not leave the room. Naruto finished checking his gear before grinning faintly at the other two.

"I was thinking, maybe having someone shadow the kid on this one could be a good idea. Stealth kinda being within my skill set could help out in that." Both of the elder crew members glanced at one another.

* * *

The young padawan hid in an alleyway behind some crates awaiting his contact patiently while unknowingly being watched from the rooftops above. After some time Ezra slid out of his hiding spot to confront an apparent student from the Academy for Young Imperials.

"You're a stealthy one Dev Morgan." The boy commented with a friendly tone causing Ezra to grimace slightly at the use of an alias.

"Yeah, that's me...stealthy Dev Morgan." Ezra replied.

Above the pair Naruto was mildly impressed with the kid. Smart enough to use a false identity and already had his own contacts within the Empire? Ezra was showing a gift for subterfuge. Something Naruto's two masters had both emphasized heavily. After all knowledge was power, and the best way to get knowledge was a network of similar contacts to what Ezra seemed to have been cultivating.

"Hey thanks for meeting me last minute, _cadet_." Ezra said putting some emphasis on the cadet with a smile.

"By the way, how'd you get past the gate?" He asked. The shinobi hidden above smiled slightly. Ezra was continuing to impress him throughout this meeting.

Not that Naruto expected the other boy to betray Ezra, especially not knowing who he is behind a face and alias, but asking innocent seeming questions that actually ensured this contact hadn't been discovered or worse flipped against them, Ezra was showing a real knack for basic spycraft. Naruto even felt a slight pull toward trying to teach the kid some of the things Jiraiya had once taught him.

"I've been promoted, got class three clearance now." The boy said with pride.

"Um, congratulations?" Ezra said awkwardly.

"To both of us. New clerical and courier duties give me greater access to intel you can use." He continued.

Above Naruto's smile widened at the thought of what the little trooper-in-training could get his hands on for them. Ezra had practically found the golden goose if they continued to keep a good relationship with this kid as he rose in the ranks of the Empire.

A passing patrol sent Ezra back into hiding behind some crates while his contact acted natural. After a moment the troopers passed and the boy leaned back in.

"Unless I'm caught…" He murmured.

"Yeah let's not get you shot." Ezra agreed.

"Agent Kallus and every section commander have been in secret tactical meetings. He's gathering troops for a massive operation." The turncoat whispered.

"Any idea what for?" The rebel pressed.

"Something to do with the old senate building, but it might just be a drill. I'm not sure." He answered.

"It's not a drill I need to warn the others." Ezra said and began to turn away.

"One more thing, I'm being transferred offworld to the officers academy on Arkanis." He said.

Naruto grimaced at that. It would make gathering intel from the young man relatively useless for this cell of rebels, but the kid might still be useful to other cells if he could get them some information. Naruto took a mental note to ensure he had Ezra stay in contact anyway possible so they could get information and pass it back up to Ahsoka and other cells for use throughout the galaxy.

"There's something you should know." Ezra began causing Naruto to narrow his eyes.

"Don't tell me you are gunna miss me Dev." The other boy began with a grin.

"What? No. I mean, yeah sure, but...look, that's not it. My real name is not Dev." Ezra said.

Naruto sighed but let it pass. It was obvious that Ezra was a compassionate person and hated lying, something like this was bound to happen. He just hoped it wouldn't bite Ezra or the rest of the crew in the ass.

"It's not your name?"

"No, it's-" Before he could finish two patrols of stormtroopers spotted them and called out.

"Oh no my vision!" Ezra yelled before mumbling something to the cadet and shoving him away sprinting off.

"Cadet are you okay?" One of the troopers asked.

"Yes sir, I caught that Loth-rat selling blackmarket goods!" He lied smoothly.

"_Well done kid."_ Naruto thought as he turned and jumped across rooftops to keep up with the fleeing Ezra, ready to intervene if need be.

Watching as they ran, Naruto was again happy to see the boy did a decent job of keeping his path winding. Sadly with the longer legs and obvious training done by the troopers they were steadily gaining on Ezra. The boy was forced to use his stun bolts on a pair of them before ducking around another corner sadly reaching a dead end.

Acting quickly Naruto stretched out his arm and hoisted the younger boy up onto the roof with him giving him a goofy smile and a finger to the lips to keep him quiet. The pair stayed silent as they waited for the remaining troopers to turn their search back believing they missed him somewhere.

"Nicely done kid." Naruto whispered in very real praise causing Ezra's eyebrows to raise slightly before a slight blush along with a confused look landed on his face. Suddenly reminded of both Konohamaru, Inari, and himself from back home in the old days Naruto ruffled the kid's hair earning a heated glare, though it didn't stop the slight upturning of the boy's lips.

"Come on, show me the way back to your folk's place so we can meet up with the others. I bet you have some information right?" Naruto asked with a slight head tilt getting a nod from Ezra.

With that the pair were off, slipping back into the streets of the city to head to the rendezvous.

* * *

As the pair arrived to the old Bridger house, Naruto took in the sight of the modest home. He could tell that at one time it was probably a homely and cozy place. Sadly the scorch marks surrounding the doors and windows clearly showed Naruto that Ezra's parents didn't likely leave the home of their own volition.

Following the younger teen as he unlocked the door, the pair was surprised that the only one apparently there was Chopper. Thankfully the droid pointed down the hidden hatchway where the rest of the crew was gathered.

As the pair made their way into the basement Naruto could overhear Sabine talking to the others. Something about a machine being pretty old, and Ezra's parents having used it to broadcast from.

"I don't get it. They weren't soldiers, just citizens, so why risk it all?" Zeb asked with a sigh.

"They had hope, that they could make the galaxy a better place for their son." Hera said as Naruto and Ezra joined the group unnoticed by any but Sabine who had been facing them.

The mandalorian coughed into her hand causing the others to turn and notice the boys. Ezra was obviously trying to ignore the fact that they were talking about his parents but his shoulders only relaxed slightly when Naruto gently laid a hand on his head giving him a look that felt as if he understood him.

That honestly confused the younger teen a lot but it did make him feel slightly better. Sighing Ezra gave a muted smile toward the blond before both of them stepped fully into the ramshackle circle the crew was making to converse.

"Cutting it a little close. I know you don't want to miss Trayvis's meeting." Sabine jokingly scolded Ezra. Sadly the reaction she hoped for was not the one she got. Rather than get excited Ezra and Naruto both let out sighs.

"Neither does the empire." Ezra said.

"We were right to be worried. They know where the meeting is." Naruto added with a frown.

"Yeah, Kallus has an operation planned, probably to capture Trayviss or worse." The padawan put in.

The group grew quiet a moment.

"The imperials will have numbers." Zeb stated.

"We'll have surprise." Kanan countered getting a surprised look from the blond of the group. Naruto had expected Kanan to be more conservative on this idea. Possibly even abandon any thought of moving on the old senate building entirely.

"What gives you that idea?" Sabine asked.

"I'm being optimistic." Kanan said with a grin.

"Ah, a truly frightening thought." Naruto jabbed getting a few amused chuckles and a halfhearted glare from Kanan.

* * *

The crew were hidden behind a low wall on a terrace nearby the old senate building. Sabine scanned the landing platforms and pointed out the senator's shuttle and droids were present. A pair of blue droids with a spear like weapon patrolled the landing pad at a sedate pace.

"There is a dignitary shuttle and a couple protocol droids on the platform. Looks like the senator is here. No Imperial forces though." Sabine said to her comrades.

"They're bound to be around here...Actually there they are. Looks like they have the whole surrounding area locked down." Kanan said as he scanned the streets with a set of macrobinoculars.

"We gotta get to Trayvis before the Empire moves in." Ezra said as the group reformed an ad hoc meeting circle.

"Wait why haven't they moved in?" Hera questioned likewise voicing the same concerns of the more experienced members of the group.

"They want us too. It's a trap." Kanan stated with a frown.

"So maybe we don't walk into it for once? We don't even know for sure your precious senator is in there." Zeb pointed out. He disliked this whole thing, his gut was telling him something was definitely off.

"Yes we do, I saw it!" Ezra argued.

"You mean your 'vision'?" Zeb asked while working his fingers like quotations on the word vision.

"Ezra, you can't rely on your vision as fact like that. It might be-" Naruto began in a comforting voice only to get a sharp slug on the shoulder and a betrayed look from the kid.

"I know what I saw. You are in touch with the force too, somehow anyway. I thought at least you would believe me." Ezra growled.

"I do believe you, I just…" Naruto began but sighed as Kanan placed a hand on his other shoulder.

"If we can get up there without being seen, maybe we fly him out on his own ship." Kanan said, moving the group back on topic.

"I know a way in. No one will see us." At the doubtful looks from the others he raised his hands up and grinned. "Hey I survived against the Empire alone for years. Come on." He hopped up and took off toward his secret entrance.

* * *

An imperial astromech was patrolling around one of the many maintenance entranceways to the Lothal City sewer system. Abruptly the astromech's peaceful patrol was interrupted as Chopper casually approached before stopping just in front of his counterpart.

After a brief moment Chopper electrocuted his fellow astromech frying the poor droid and putting it into a temporary shutdown. With that Chopper again casually rolled over to the hatchway's controls and opened the door before bumping his disabled victim into the hole as if hiding a murder.

As the crew gathered around Zeb leaned over the edge and groaned. This plan was beginning to become obvious and he disliked where it was going so far.

"It's a sewer pipe."

"Indeed it is. I can pretty much guarantee we won't run into any stormtroopers down there." Ezra said to the scowling Lasat with a grin.

As the group began descending the ladder most of them sighed. They were all resigned to such things by now but it didn't make it any less of an unwelcome time.

"Terrific." Sabine's sarcastic murmur got a chuckle out of Naruto as he followed her down the ladder into the dark tunnels below.

"Okay Chop." Kanan began while sticking his head out of the pipe. "Stay here just incase we need a backup strat-" He was interrupted though as the astromech sealed up the hatch suddenly causing him to briefly yelp before ducking inside.

As the crew made their way through the tunnels Ezra began explaining why the tunnels were dry enough to walk through now that the water was being rationed by the empire.

"Yeah, it might be dry but that hasn't helped the smell at all." Zeb complained.

"Speaking of which it does smell like you." Sabine sniped.

"Wha-?" Zeb began.

"I was talking to Ezra." She reassured the man.

"You know what I smell like?" Ezra asked with what he probably thought was a suave smile.

"Damn kid, glossing over that and flirting with it is more impressive than anything." Naruto said with a chuckle getting one from Zeb as well as the younger boy shot them a glare.

"Can we focus? Please?" Kanan asked, having grown irritated by the line of unnecessary conversation.

As the group stopped and climbed the ladder that let out at the proper hatchway near the landing platforms for the old senate building Ezra, Kanan, and Hera headed up first. Scanning the area they found the only guards nearby were the two blue colored droids that had accompanied the exiled senator on his journey. Deciding that it was better safe than sorry to avoid alerting the droids or more importantly any imperials to their presence Kanan used the force to knock some things over in the waiting shuttle.

Successfully distracting the droids away from the entrance the crew began climbing out of the sewer and moving forward. Stopping briefly Kanan motioned for Zeb, Sabine, and Naruto to head up top to gain access through the rafters in case there was an ambush of any kind while he, Hera, and Ezra continued on to meet with the senator in person.

"Want a lift?" Zeb asked, easily tossing the Mandalorian girl up onto the perch above.

"I got it big guy." Naruto said with a grin as he hopped up and pulled himself onto the perch before giving Zeb a hand as he did the same.

As the three hidden rebels slipped into the shadows above, the rest of the crew stepped forward into the meeting room finding Trayvis standing at a podium just before the mural Ezra had mentioned earlier in the day. Beside him another pair of blue droids stood at attention awaiting command.

"Hello? Who's there?" Trayvis asked to the figures entering the room. They were still in shadow and so he couldn't quite make them out.

"Senator Trayvis. We're friends." Ezra greeted as he excitedly made his way forward, closely followed by Hera and Kanan.

"Well then welcome!" The senator called out with a smile. "I was beginning to think no-one got my message."

"Senator, you're in terrible danger. The Empire knows you're here." Hera said hoping to lead the man to safety before Kallus or his comrades could catch them.

"That's impossible!" Trayvis began only for several blasters to be heard readying themselves.

Before Kanan or the other rebels could react to the sudden sound a pair of blaster shots destroyed the two droids guarding the Senator. As the crew turned around they came face to face with Kallus and a squad of stormtroopers quickly moving to cover the rebels. Quite quickly it became apparent they were surrounded as Ezra and Kanan activated their lightsabers and Hera ushered the Senator to better cover behind her and the two jedi.

"Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight." Kallus stated in a smug tone as he stepped forward. This was his moment of victory afterall it was time to bask. "Padawan Jabba, and what have we here? A Twi'lek I've yet to meet." Behind the imperial officer and his men, Minister Maketh Tua stepped into the room as well.

"Judging by your regalia, you must be our talented pilot." He continued as he eyed Hera with a hint of mirth and victory in his eyes.

"Where is the Lasat and the Mandalorian girl?" Maketh interrupted his feelings of victory. Still she was right, two rebels were missing.

"If you won't talk, then my troopers will become a firing squad."

"You'd better do as he says." Trayvis whispered to Kanan.

"Don't worry, Senator. Our friends will be along." Ezra encouraged the aging man.

Above them Naruto, Sabine, and Zeb smirked as they tossed smoke grenades to the floor. As they burst and filled the room with their contents chaos erupted. With a roar Zeb leapt down to the floor activating his bo-rifle's electrostaff function and began attacking the troopers who couldn't properly defend themselves. Sabine remained above the others in the rafters using her scanner to pick out targets through the smoke while she opened fire and blasted several troopers.

Naruto though seemingly disappeared. He may not be as skilled in silent killing as someone like Zabuza was but Naruto had been trained by Kakashi to utilize his nose and ears to an enhanced degree. With that advantage he quickly began dispatching many troopers with quick and efficient strikes of his knives to the gaps in their body armor. All the while flooding the area with a killing intent far greater than the people there were used to.

It took a brief moment for the rest of the rebels to shake off the surprise and killing intent, but soon they were leading the Senator out of the room while surrounding him protectively. As they went, Sabine jumped from rafter to rafter, covering the group, while Naruto eliminated any troopers who wandered too close to them in the smoke filled darkness. When he and the others were out of the room Sabine dropped a thermal detonator before fleeing herself.

As she ran around the corner, sliding on the dust covered smooth floors, Naruto snagged her arm and pulled her into the group alongside Zeb and the others as the blast went off. Taking a moment to share a look the three grinned and Zeb began chuckling at their success. Sadly their happy moment was ruined as Hera spoke.

"Was really hoping that shuttle would still be here." She said with a scowl.

"And that's not the ride we're looking for." Kanan pointed.

Behind Hera, over the now empty landing pad an imperial shuttle rose up causing the group to begin running for the sewer hatchway they had used to access the area in the first place. Hera and Sabine took pot-shots at the ship, though they didn't so much as singe the paint job as the ship loomed over them.

Back inside the room the surviving members of the ambushing party righted themselves. Both Kallus and Tua had to push dead troopers off of them to stand, this filled the Minister with a white hot rage at the rebels.

"Agent Kallus! They must not escape!" She hollered over to the far calmer man.

"They haven't, Minister." He replied with a slight scowl while collecting his weapon and making for the door. "They won't."

With the rebels they had reached their getaway and were preparing to escape into the tunnels before the Senator paused causing the group to stop with him.

"You want me to go in there?" Trayvis asked in a show of shock mixed with disgust.

"It's not so bad once you get used to the smell." Ezra again encouraged the man.

"Hah, you never get used to the smell!" Zeb laughed.

The brief reprieve from danger came to a quick end as a blaster bolt narrowly missed Ezra's head causing the group to turn and notice the quickly advancing Agent Kallus and a pair of stormtroopers.

"Go!" Kanan ordered as he and Ezra stepped in front of the group sabers at the ready and began deflecting blaster shots away from their friends.

Not taking any more hesitation Zeb picked the Senator up and set him on the ladder making the man climb down quickly followed by the girls and Naruto with Zeb sliding down after them. With the others safe Ezra hopped down soon followed the far more graceful Kanan. Just as Kallus caught up to the hatch Sabine sealed it shut causing the man to grind his teeth slightly before turning to his troopers.

"Get this open, I want troopers at every entrance in the lower city." He commanded getting a nod from the trooper who quickly got in contact with the comm center to have more troopers dispatched to the lower city to cover the objectives.

Underground the crew and their VIP guest raced through the dark, and pungent tunnels. The rebels were all rather physically capable individuals and easily kept a rapid pace as they made their escape. Naruto and Kanan especially easily navigated the dark pipes as they ran, their training regimens had honed their bodies to better handle such things after all.

Unlike the rebels though it seemed that Trayvis was not cut out for such strenuous activity as running for his life. Slumping against the wall to catch his breath the Senator gasped loudly causing the others to stop for him. Naruto and Hera eyed him suspiciously. The man might not be fit but he wasn't truly out of shape either and they had barely been running a few moments before he seemingly needed a break.

"Sorry Senator!" Ezra called back to the man. "We just wanna get out of here as fast as we can."

"I am the one who should apologize, my young friend. I've been pursued, but never in such a place as this." The man responded however Hera and Naruto shared a raised brow at him who seemed to speak just fine for being so out of breath.

"I figured you'd be used to running from the empire." Kanan said as he stepped back toward the rear of the group.

"Well, I-I-I've never come this close to capture before." Trayvis answered only for stormtroopers to round the corner behind him and take aim at the group.

The sudden added fire split the group in half with Naruto, Hera, Ezra, and Trayvis on one side and Kanan, Sabine and Zeb on the other. Kanan's group attempted to draw the troopers away, ordering Naruto and Ezra to get Trayvis and Specter-2 out.

"How will you find us?" Ezra called out.

"I can smell you remember?" Sabine yelled as she joined Kanan in returning fire toward the troopers.

Ezra opened his mouth to reply only to have a hand clamp over it before he felt himself gruffly pulled along.

"So not the time kid!" Naruto scolded.

"Think of something clever later! Run now!" Hera shouted to the boy.

* * *

Having made a large amount of ground from their now distracted pursuers, Hera's group slowed to better accommodate the Senator, which annoyed Naruto to no end. To make matters worse he wouldn't shut up. While his only real conversation partner was Ezra it didn't stop the man, or his many odd topics.

"You're so well organized. To evade the Empire as you have, you must have quite a support system. Good funding, powerful allies." The man fished causing Naruto to roll his eyes as he and Hera checked the intersecting tunnels for possible enemy patrols.

"No this it, we're all there is." Ezra replied bringing the man up short.

"You can't be serious."

The group continued on as Ezra began talking again.

"I had hoped we could learn from you, Senator. Your transmissions have already kept us going." The boy said with a glint of hope in his eyes and smile on his lips, causing the man to grimace slightly, something not missed by Naruto even in the poor light.

"Just to know someone else is out there has meant a lot to our crew." Hera said.

The group came upon a large fan that helped keep the tunnels air circulated. The group hesitated only briefly before hopping down with marginal hassle. That is the rebels did, Senator Trayvis seemed to hesitate before clumsily falling off in a painful fashion.

After helping the senator back to his feet the three rebels focused their attention on the obstacle before them. The fan was truly massive, and clearly spinning too fast to try and stop by hand. Even with Naruto's enhanced strength the speed the fan blades were spinning at would injure him and they couldn't spare time for serious injuries like that now. They simply lacked the capability to treat it even with Naruto's regenerative ability.

"How are we getting past this thing?" Hera asked to no one in particular.

"We could try to cut it's power." Ezra stated getting nods from the other two as the three of them began looking closer at the many panels and mechanical sections embedded into the structure.

As Ezra stepped forward Naruto and Hera glanced at one another before they turned to face the Senator. Hera offered the man her blaster pistol while Naruto handed her his spare, formerly Lando's old blaster.

"Watch our backs will ya?" Hera asked.

When the two rebels turned back to the fan after putting their own blasters away Travis lifted the weapon and aimed at them.

"That's enough. We're not going anywhere." He called out.

"Woah Senator! What are you doing?" Ezra asked drawing his saber out.

"Put your saber down, boy, now! You two keep your hands up where I can see them!" The traitor ordered.

"You-you're with the empire?" Ezra was stunned. He had listened to Trayvis's broadcasts for so long only for the man to turn out to be an enemy in disguise.

"All you're transmissions all those other planets-" Hera began biting her lip. She may have seen this coming but it still hurt for her thoughts to be confirmed.

"How did word not get out about you?" Naruto asked with a healthy amount of heat in his voice as his hands were held up showing no threat toward the senator, letting the man think he had the edge.

"Because no one knew. My own droids didn't even know. Insurgents are not arrested. They are identified and watched. The troublesome ones have… accidents long after I'm gone." He stated with a hint of condescension in his tone.

"But you're not a traitor." Ezra pressed with conviction. "You're a voice of freedom a-a light in the darkness, like my parents!" Naruto watched the younger boy out of the corner of his eyes and felt his heart reach out for the kid. Betrayal in this galaxy, especially in this day and age were part of life. Ezra would have to come to accept it and harden his heart towards the threat of such things.

That line of thinking had him reminding himself of his own advice. He felt a slight bite from the man's betrayal, nothing like what had happened in his past but still it went to show how common it was for the Empire to corrupt those that were considered trustworthy to betay that same trust.

"Parents? No-one has spoken out against the Empire on Lothal since the Bridger transmissions." Trayvis slowly puzzled out exactly who Ezra was. "I remember them, the original voices of freedom. To think you're their son!"

"Why? Why?" Ezra demanded.

"I joined the Empire, like your parents should have. For their Lives, and for you." Trayvis pointed out. Naruto could even almost detect a true hint of sorrow at the situation from the man. "Your parents were very brave… and very foolish! Where are they now? I'll tell you, my boy. They're gone!"

Ezra whimpered slightly as thoughts of his parents death he had pressed away filtered into his mind. Naruto immediately set to glaring at the cowardly traitor before him.

"Yeah, I've had about enough of this, haven't you Hera?" Naruto asked as he dropped his hands and drew his blaster.

"What in blazes are you doing? Drop that now!" Trayvis bellowed at the blond, getting only a bored stare in return.

"Yeah, thats enough. Trayvis his parents aren't gone." Hera said as she drew the blaster Naruto had given her and started stepping toward Trayvis with a pronounced glare.

"Stop right there!" Trayvis ordered again his blaster flicking back and forth between Hera and Naruto.

"As long as we fight all that they spoke out for lives on." She continued advancing on the backpedaling senator all the while.

"I said stop! Final warning!" Trayvis demanded once more.

Hera stepped up to the blaster so close that the business end tapped against her flight suit and Trayvis sneered before pulling the trigger.

The result though disappointed the man. The blaster faintly clicked as he tried the trigger again.

"What? No!" He shouted only to have the blaster pulled from his hands and Hera's fist slammed into his temple knocking him to the ground and out cold.

"A true rebel would know if he's holding a charged blaster." Hera stated with a frown.

"You two knew!" Ezra said in shock at what just happened.

"He tried to get us to surrender, he wasn't tired when he stopped. He was waiting for Kallus to catch up." Hera pointed out.

"Oh let's not forget the whole, 'You're so well organized. To evade the Empire as you have, you must have quite a support system. Good funding, powerful allies.' line. I mean come on children are better at information gathering than this doddering fool." Naruto chuckled faintly. "Still he knows far more than he should." He said darkly while lifting his blaster to finish the man before Ezra pushed his hand back down.

"What are you doing? He's unarmed and unconscious." The boy protested while Hera looked conflicted.

"Yeah until he wakes up and tells Kallus and his men every little thing he learned here, like who you really are, the fact that we have no real support base. With that alone we lose the safe house of your family home and your other old hangouts and make it easier for the Empire to crack down on us. He has to die." Naruto lifted his blaster again only for the boy to step between them.

"It's not right!" The kid shouted. "He might be a scumbag but it's not right!"

"Not right? Kid this is war, he-" Naruto gruffly grabbed and pointed Ezra's head at Trayvis. "Is the worst kind of enemy we could have. A defector. Someone with inside information feeding it to the bucketheads to kick down doors of peoples homes and snatch them. What do you think happens when those other rebels had accidents? He dies!" Naruto growled and was about to blast the man until he was interrupted again but by the sound of running feet causing him to aim for the entrance above them only relaxing when the rest of the crew showed up.

"What happened to the senator?" Zeb asked.

"He was working for the Empire." Hera explained.

"Ugh, is there anybody on our side?" Sabine asked.

"So guess he stays here. What's our plan?" Kanan moved straight to the next issue.

"Wait, hold on a second, Trayvis needs to die, he weaseled too much information out of Ezra and is a threat." Naruto argued.

The group was momentarily silent. Hera, Sabine, and Zeb weren't willing to voice an opinion on the matter. Each of them could see both sides of the argument, but Kanan was their leader for a reason and it did feel wrong to kill an unarmed man. Especially one that was unconscious.

"This is not up for debate. We are not about to execute people. We aren't the Empire." Kanan said in a low voice getting face to face with Naruto.

The group was tense. Naruto and Kanan didn't vibe particularly well together, mainly because they were both very strong personalities with very different moral codes. This incident was an extreme example of their disagreeing philosophies.

"Is that an order from Specter-1 or a demand by Kanan Jarrus." Naruto asked lowly, so lowly in fact only Kanan could hear.

"An order." Kanan replied after a brief moment of hesitation.

Naruto held Kanan's eyes for a moment before nodding and backing up. He stepped aside so that Kanan could pass and the group could begin looking for a way out of these tunnels.

"We were trying to find a way to stop the fan before all of this mess, it's our way out. Any ideas?" Naruto asked the newcomers.

"I've got it, just cover me." Kanan commanded as he extended his hand and focused on the fan before him.

Behind the jedi, Naruto and the others got into stable positions and waited for the pursuing stormtroopers to reveal themselves. As Kanan fought against the fan to stop it long enough for them to escape troopers began arriving and a firefight erupted once again. Ezra deflected blaster bolts headed for his master shielding the man from harm while the others returned fire to the attacking troopers above.

Luckily the fan slowed enough for the crew to slip through as Kallus arrived ordering his men to focus on the jedi though unfortunately for him it was simply too late. The group fled down the tunnels though Ezra took a moment to shoot a glare at the now awakening Trayvis before joining his friends.

* * *

Finally back at the _Ghost _after an exhausting day, both physically and emotionally, the crew largely headed off to their quarters. Naruto and Kanan stared at one another for a while before Naruto bowed his head slightly mumbling Specter quietly before heading off to hit the hay. The jedi wasn't sure what to think of that. He knew he and Naruto needed to sit down and truly hash out their differences before they came to a head as right now the disagreements they had were manageable but growing in occurrence. Despite that Naruto always seemed to give into him or Hera when he considered them giving commands. He was nothing if not a reliable crew member, but disagreements like today would just keep getting worse if something wasn't done.

"I didn't see it. I was so wrong." Ezra said pulling Kanan from his thoughts.

"We all thought he was a good person." Hera comforted the boy.

"You always say I should trust the force. I thought that's what I was doing." He continued turning to look at his master.

"Your emotions clouded the vision. It takes-" Kanan began in a lecturing tone.

"Training and Discipline, I know."

"To see things clearly yes. Visions are difficult almost impossible to interpret." Kanan tried to ease Ezra's stress about the situation.

"What was the last vision you had?" Ezra asked quickly.

For a moment Kanan hesitated. A brief flicker of dread washed over his features but he schooled the look before either Hera or Ezra could notice. His last vision had been difficult to interpret, but was most definitely clear on one thing. There would be tough times ahead for everyone, and not just the crew of the _Ghost_ either. They always say the night is darkest before the dawn though so Kanan pushed the memory from his mind and shot the boy a smirk as he scaled the ladder.

"I saw this annoying kid that caused me all sorts of trouble."

"Guess you got that one wrong, huh?" Ezra asked, a mix of humor and actual vulnerability in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess I did. Make sure you get plenty of rest, we will be working on that deflecting drill again tomorrow, you've come a long way with it in just twenty four hours but you have a long ways to go still." With that the Jedi climbed the ladder up into the ship and off to bed leaving Ezra and Hera.

"You know," Hera started after a few moments of silence. "I wanted to believe in Trayvis as much as you did."

"Yeah, what's wrong with us." Ezra asked as he took a seat on the ship's loading ramp beside her.

"We have hope. Hope that things can get better, and they will." She said with a smile and with that the pair slipped back into a peaceful silence for a while.

"Hera." For a while at least. "Was Naruto right today? Should we have just killed Trayvis? The more I think about it the more I find myself agreeing with him, no matter how much I hate it."

The Twi'lek sighed at that and looked up at the stars. She still felt conflicted about the situation. From a strictly survivalist point of view, she definitely agreed with Naruto. Trayvis had managed to get information on them. Despite not a lot, it was enough to further constrict the already tight noose the Empire had strung around their neck. On the other hand, she couldn't see herself ever being okay with executing someone like the blond had planned to.

"I can't really answer that myself, but I will say this. Naruto's code of ethics, just like yours and mine was created from response to his life. He is a lot similar to you actually, while also extremely different. It's part of what makes our group so strong I think. Having such unique people all united under a common cause." Hera said turning back to the boy who blinked at her owlishly.

"What?"

"Sabine was right, you really do answer questions without answering them." He said with a blank stare causing her to blush slightly and scoff at the boy for teasing her. Cheeky brat.

"Fine, how about this. Naruto only considered killing Trayvis to better protect the crew. He saw that in his mind we were safer with Trayvis, a proven traitor, dead than we would be if he was alive. In the end though it didn't matter, because Naruto followed orders when given them and backed down. So don't worry so much about it. Naruto is reliable and a member of this crew now alright?"

Ezra nodded to that and looked out over the plains surrounding them as Hera headed inside. He thought about the blond man and couldn't fully wrap his head around him. Sometimes he just drove Ezra nuts by being in the same room and other times like today he terrified him with his willingness to do things like kill someone in cold blood. Then though, there were the other times. Like earlier in the day. How he had comforted Ezra about his parents without even saying a word. It was weird how much just having the feeling of Naruto's callused hand resting on his head seemed to make him feel a little happier than before.

Shaking his head of the weird thoughts Ezra stood up and went into the ship. Closing the ramp as he went.

* * *

**Lothal City Imperial Complex**

The imperial Lambda-class shuttle eased into a landing position just before the gathered stormtroopers and other Imperial forces. Minister Tua, flanked by Agent Kallus and the Grand Inquisitor stood in the pathway created by the two mirrored forces of troopers standing at parade rest. As the shuttle fully landed and opened up a pair of stormtroopers stepped out and quickly moved into positions on either side of the lowered ramp allowing the ship's true passengers to disembark.

Stepping out in true imperial style full of confidence and perhaps a sizeable amount of apathy, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin was the embodiment of Imperial Command. Someone who the Emperor himself praised, and someone capable of razing entire worlds if he felt that it bettered the Empire as a whole. The tall man with striking aristocratic features and a near permanent emotionless face seemed to carry with him an aura of command that was felt as soon as he stepped off his ship.

Behind the Grand Moff was a slightly taller individual dressed in a very simple black uniform with black gloves and a pure white helmet that fully encompassed their head and face. The masked stranger was especially eye catching for two reasons. The first, and likely lesser of the two was that the mask had no visible visor, as if the entirety of the helmet itself was a visor and seemed to have a false face, one characterized by being a completely flat and expressionless stare, painted where a visor would typically be.

The second thing that stood out were the two slender lightsaber handles on his belt. Both were very simplistic and utilitarian while maintaining a menacing and even elegant lobster tailed design. Those sabers marked the man out quite clearly to the three waiting leaders on Lothal. This was one of the new Hunters being spread by the Emperor over the last months. They were reported to be terrifying and dangerous for both the enemies of the empire and those that failed to remain out of their way when they were on an assignment.

This particular guard was none other than Tarkin's personal enforcer. An unnamed man who simply responded to Tarkin's calls of hunter. Many had recently made the mistake of assuming Darth Vader was in fact Tarkin's attack dog, that simply was not true. Vader answered only to the Emperor. Tarkin could pull the Sith Lord's leash from time to time due to his position and Vader's Begrudging respect of him, but this man would immediately act on any order given and do so seemingly with less remorse even than the black clad Juggernaut commanding the 501st.

These thoughts had all raced through the Grand Inquisitor's mind as the two men approached himself and his compatriots here on Lothal, only to be interrupted when minister Tua began her long winded greetings of the Governor of the whole Outer Rim Territories. He wasn't sure whether to roll his eyes at her 'honoring' of the Grand Moff like such a sycophant or thank her for snapping him from his brief drift of thought.

"My visit is hardly an honor Minister." Tarkin replied to the woman's exaggerated greeting with his own annoyed and sarcastic remark. He then stepped on past the three of them and continued on his way while Tua continued to try her hand at sucking up to him.

"I admit I was surprised to learn you were coming." She said as she followed him a nervous twitch in her steps as she did.

"And I, too, have been surprised by what's been happening on your little backwater world." He responded cutting straight to the reason he was here.

"If you are referring to the, I-" She began only to be cut off.

"In the absence of Governor Price, you have had a single simple objective, Minister. To protect the Empire's industrial interests here. Interests which are vital to our expansion throughout the Outer Rim." He bit out curtly before continuing his tirade at the woman.

"But instead of protecting those interests, you have allowed a cell of insurgents to flourish right under your nose. Am I correct?" When the woman could only look down and ashamedly clear her throat he turned to the next among the group.

"And Agent Kallus, have you just stood idly by while this rabble have attacked our men, destroyed our property, and disrupted our trade?" He asked the man.

"I have expended every resource at my disposal sir. This group has proven quite difficult." Kallus answered immediately confident in owning up to his failings. Maybe that would be a point in his favor with Tarkin.

"It's said their leader is… a jedi." Tua cut in.

"Ah yes, let us not forget the sudden appearance of a Jedi, as if leaping from the pages of ancient history. A shame we don't have someone who specializes in dealing with them. Otherwise our problem might be solved." Tarkin snarked while turning his attention finally to the last member of the trio.

"Minister have you ever met a Jedi?" He turned his eyes back to Tua.

"No. I-I-"

"I actually knew the Jedi. Not from the pages of folklore or children's tales, but as flesh and blood. Do you know what happened to them?" He asked as he leaned into her face.

"Well there were rumors-" She stammered out uncomfortable with how close he had become.

"They died. Every last one of them. So you see this criminal cannot be what he claims to be, and I shall prove it." He said before turning on his heel and signalling his hunter to follow as they strode toward their temporary quarters.

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**Alright thats that, initially it was going to be about twice as long but I soon realized I disliked how long it was going to be and felt this was a decent place to cut it off as he largely falls in with the ending/beginning of Episode 10 and 11 of the show or Vision of Hope and Call to Action respectively.**

**Anyway the next chapter is under works and will be posted when it is finished up!**


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